The Fighter and the Faerie Queen
by Death Mountain
Summary: What if, early on, Tifa had been the one who fell off the bridge in the Sector 5 reactor explosion and thus, been the first to meet Aerith? Shoujo ai. CHAPTER 8 IS UP.
1. Just a Flower Girl

Title: The Fighter and the Faerie Queen

Chapter: 1-Just a Flower Girl

Game: Final Fantasy VII

Rating: T

Author: Death Mountain

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Final Fantasy VII. The plot is to Square Enix, but this little romp of Tifa/Aerith is mine!

* * *

_(An angel.)_

_(An angel had offered its hand to her. Why couldn't she breathe?)_

_(In the angel's hand, a shining point of light. An airy fragrance loosened her lungs. The shimmering point fell into her cupped hands—not like water for it kept its shape—and it was as light as a feather.)_

_(A blessing from an angel . . .)_

"_Wake up!"_

Those words dragged her like a fish on a hook back to consciousness. An unfamiliar face swam into view above her, with soft, blurry edges. She blinked several times and gradually focused, making out the distinctly feminine features and the concerned expression. For a moment she just lay dazed, trying to figure out if that face was one she knew.

Tifa shook her head to clear it. Her entire body ached, a reminder of the disaster at the reactor. _Crap! I have to get back._ As she tried the pull herself up the other girl moved forward and gently grasped her shoulders. "Don't sit up too fast," she warned in a light, warm lilt. She sounded like a child, though she was at least Tifa's age, possibly older. It was hard to tell by just looking at her. A long brown braid lay down her back, tied with a red ribbon. A strange, calm glow seemed to permeate her youthful face.

_(If she could see the girl's eyes, she was sure . . .)_

"You took me by surprise," the girl commented softly.

"Yeah? Me, too," Tifa groaned, as the ringing in her head died away. Over her head she could see a high ceiling with a splintered, caved-in hole; her fault, admittedly. To her bewilderment, a bed of flowers cushioned her body with surprising firmness. The light fragrance wafted over her, blanketing the usual stench of smog and metal that seemed to spread evenly throughout Midgar. The flowerbed itself was in a rather unusual place, between several rows of wooden pews and a small altar. Light streamed through the front door more than the boarded windows, creating mesmerizing swirls of dust and pollen.

"You seem to be all right." The girl reached down to help her up, to Tifa's chagrin. "Do you know where you are?"

She didn't answer. She was lingering on the brink of some important unknown realization. The scent of the flowers made her feel a little dizzy and seemed to be trying to creep into her mind like a whisper of something . . . something she couldn't remember.

The girl tapped her and she jumped. "Um, what?" she stammered.

"You sure you're all right? I asked if you know where you are."

"Er . . ." She was coming up short, so she shrugged.

"That's okay; you must have taken quite a fall, so it's lucky you landed here. This is a church in Sector 5."

"And who are you?" Lockheart asked suspiciously.

"Me? I'm just a flower girl from the Sector 6 slums." She shook her head wearily. "I come here often." As she spoke she spread her arms wide and breathed deeply, as if to take the air of the unusually calm church into her body in purification. "I love it here. They say flowers won't bloom in Midgar, but for some reason, they grow fine here."

"Is that so . . ." Tifa brushed herself off and finger-combed her long hair, having mussed it in the fall. The fall . . . Cloud . . . Barret . . . Should she wait for Cloud to come get her, or try to find her way back to Sector 7? She had heard Sector 6 was a pretty rough-and-tumble place.

Before she could ask, her younger companion was speaking again earnestly. "Excuse me, but do you have any Materia?"

She relied more on her fists, particularly the Boxing Gloves, and her Limit, than on Materia or magic the way some people did. "Some."

"Me, too. It can't do anything, though."

Huh? "What do you mean? Maybe you just don't know how to use it."

"No, I do, but it's useless. It was my mother's, and she gave it to me. Hey, you must be pretty strong, right?" she asked hopefully. "What do you do?"

"I own a bar in Sector 7. It's called 7th Heaven."

"Oh." Somehow, it seemed to be less than the answer she expected. "But if you have Materia, you must be able to fight, huh?"

Tifa sighed, thinking of the numerous missions AVALANCHE had taken her on. "Yeah, I suppose. I was taught martial arts by Zangan, this teacher who goes around looking for students. But that was after . . ." She trailed off and shook her head. "That was years ago,"

_Three years ago . . . Papa . . ._

"You can't make much money from a bar down in the slums. Have you ever thought of being, say, a bodyguard?" The girl's voice rose, and she gazed imploringly at Tifa.

The brunette sighed. "Do you need a bodyguard?"

"Just someone who's willing to accompany me home. It's not far."

Her eyes held Tifa in place, piercing her. "I guess so. I need to get back to Sector 7 myself, and if it's on the way . . ."

The young woman beamed, lighting up the rundown little sanctuary with an ambience no lantern could achieve. "Thank you! Wait here, I just need to finish tending the flowers." She moved away and knelt, picking up a watering can, which for some reason made that distant realization tickle at the back of Tifa's mind.

Footsteps and a brief shadow in the doorway announced the presence of another visitor. Tifa glanced at him, a brown-haired man wearing an expensive-looking dark suit, and decided she and her new charge had better leave quietly while it was still possible. Whoever the guy was, it did not look like he was here to take confession.

Taking care to step around the patches of flowers, she hurried to the girl, who looked up. "I'm almost finished. What is it?"

"We'd better hurry." Tifa motioned to the man in the door.

"Okay. Now that I think of it, we don't know each other's names, do we?"

"I guess not. I'm Tifa Lockheart."

"What a nice name. I'm Aerith Gainsborough. Pleased to meet you, Ms. Tifa." Aerith happily clasped her hand.

"Please, just Tifa. We'd better go."

That guy in the door was watching them, and she got increasingly nervous. She started to go to him but Aerith called, "Just ignore him, Tifa," sounding annoyed and a little nervous. Tifa shrugged and turned back, just as several more people in blue uniforms bustled in behind the first.

She frowned, assessing the situation. Aerith looked frightened, but also strangely weary, as though she knew what was happening. She would only be a problem if she got in the way of a fight, so the best plan was the keep the girl behind her.

_Do they know I was with Cloud and Barret? Did they follow me? But how? It should have taken them a lot longer._

"Aerith, stay behind me," she whispered.

The suited man stuck his hands in his pockets and waited until Tifa had reached him at a safe distance. "Who are you?"

"Who are _you_?" he echoed.

"I asked you first. It's only polite to answer," she said in the voice she reserved for when Cloud was being less than sensible.

The blue-clad soldiers snickered. "Hey, sis, this one's kinda weird!" One of them jeered at the girls, though Tifa couldn't tell if he was talking to her or Aerith.

The man gave her a snide look. "I've no obligation to answer to you, little girl. But if you must know, I'm Reno. Reno of the Turks."

Tifa started and her stomach clenched. "The Turks?" _Cloud told me about them—ShinRa's personal mob organization. _"What do you want _here?_ Isn't kidnapping and bullying more up your alley?"

"I prefer to think of it as appropriating." Reno smirked.

The soldiers behind him were getting antsy. "Reno! Want her taken out?"

A thoughtful expression passed over his face. "I haven't decided yet," he replied lazily.

"Don't fight here! You'll ruin the flowers!" Aerith burst out. She scrambled past her flowerbed to the back of the church. "Tifa! The exit's back here!" Without waiting for an answer she disappeared into the back room.

Tifa groaned as she realized how much of a problem Aerith could be. But escape was the only option right now, so she turned away from Reno, flashing him a dirty look as she followed Aerith behind the altar.

Reno calmly watched her go before stepping through the flowerbed, unhurried and completely unconcerned. "So, we've finally found you," he muttered. He turned to the soldiers, who were chuckling at nudging each other. "Yeah, all right. Back to work, back to work." He started to follow the girls but paused thoughtfully. "Oh! And don't step on the flowers."

Immediately the soldiers burst into loud protest. "Hey, Reno! You just stepped on them!"

"They're all ruined!"

"You're gonna catch holy hell!"

* * *

Tifa flopped down on her back on the roof of the church after a long fight with their pursuers. The soldiers with Reno were surprisingly weak, meaning they were little more than messengers and errand-boys. _From what Cloud said,_ she mused, _I hadn't expected such pushovers._ Even Aerith had little trouble beating them with her Guard Stick and an Ice Materia that Tifa gave her. 

Aerith crouched over the hole in the roof, hugging her knees. "Haha," she chuckled wryly. "They're looking for me again."

"Again?" Tifa sat up. "This happened before?"

"Yeah . . ."

Tifa palmed her forehead. "You know who they are, don't you?"

Aerith shrugged.

"They're the Turks." She recalled grimly what Cloud had told her back in Sector 7. "ShinRa employs them to scout for possible candidates for SOLDIER, but they're involved in a lot of dirty stuff on the side."

"They look like it."

She scratched her head, surveying her companion. "But why would they be after you?" What about this mild-mannered flower girl could have attracted a bunch of thugs from the Turks? Tifa stared hard at her, as though she might suddenly reveal something unexpected, like a rabbit out of a hat.

Aerith shook her head in thought. "I think they believe I have what it takes to be in SOLDIER."

Tifa thought of Cloud, how cold he had become, and the creepy glow of Makou in his eyes. Who seemed suddenly desensitized to death and murder, and uninterested in who was innocence or guilty. Who lately bore an uncanny resemblance to a certain long-dead young member of SOLDIER.

Ignoring the phantom pain in her chest, she turned to Aerith. "We should go before they catch up."

The smaller woman nodded. "You're right. C'mon, we can get home this way," she suggested, pointing across the roofs of trashed houses and pileup of junk.

The girls set off at a brisk pace hopping from one roof to another. Very soon Tifa found herself working to breathe, and was surprised; she'd thought being in AVALANCHE had conditioned her to exercise, but apparently running back and forth through Makou Reactors wasn't enough of a work-out. Zangan would have been disappointed to find out that his star pupil had gone soft.

Not that Aerith was doing much better. Her steps were tentative, and she took a long time to jump. Now that she was winding down, things moved more slowly. Tifa still managed to stay ahead of her, stopping every now and then to let them catch their breath.

"Wait . . . wait, I said!"

Lockheart stopped to watch Aerith coming up to her as fast as she could manage. "Slow . . . down . . ." the girl puffed. "Don't leave me . . ." She stumbled forward and tripped, but Tifa reached back and caught her by the arms. "Thank . . . you . . ."

"I thought you were cut out to be in SOLDIER?" Tifa teased, getting a breathless laugh from her smaller companion.

Gainsborough shook her head and brushed stray hair out of her eyes. "We're almost there! Let's go, Tifa!" With a new burst of energy she took off across the roof, leaving Tifa to catch up with somewhat less vigor.

* * *

Sector 6 was a sad place, even worse off than Sector 7. Lines of makeshift, rickety huts seemed to dominate this Sector. It was disturbingly empty, like a ghost town. Its market was a little livelier, though not by much. 

Aerith's house was the sole flower in a field of dead thistles. As the only building standing up on its own, it was a picture of stability. It practically radiated warmth. Nearby were a carefully tended little garden and a waterfall. It all seemed so appropriate somehow, as if Aerith could not have lived in anything but such a house, like this one which shared her luminescent aura.

The surreality of it did not escape Tifa, who could not imagine growing up in this house and realizing that for all the home's welcome beauty, it was still surrounded by a plague of poverty and the spread of industry.

Aerith's face lit up and she practically skipped up to the door, throwing it open and calling into it, "Mom, I'm home!"

Tifa trailed behind her hesitantly, marveling at this rare pocket of tranquility. Though small, the inside spoke clearly of family and comfort. The little table in the middle of the room was set for two and Tifa filed that away in her memory. By the stove Aerith was hugging a small woman in an apron. Their body language spoke volumes, and the love between them was obvious. Tifa waited awkwardly by the door, straightening her clothes and hoping she didn't look like she'd recently raided a Makou Reactor, or run from a gang of Turks.

"Are you all right, Aerith?" Mrs. Gainsborough asked anxiously, pulling back and holding her daughter's face in her hands.

"I'm fine, Mom." Aerith looked a little guilty, like a child who just got caught breaking an expensive piece of china. "My bodyguard kept me safe."

"Bodyguard? You mean you were followed again?" Alarmed, her mother looked past her.

Aerith nodded to Tifa, who took this as her invitation to speak. She came over to shake Mrs. Gainsborough's hand. "Hello, ma'am. I'm Tifa Lockheart. I own a bar in Sector 7, but I don't think anyone will say anything about a bit of moonlighting."

Mrs. Gainsborough smiled warmly. "My name is Elmyra Gainsborough. Thank you, Ms. Lockheart, for taking care of my daughter." She looked her up and down, a curious expression on her face.

_Uh-oh,_ Tifa thought. She shuffled uncomfortably, realizing that, compared to Aerith, she looked just a little butch dressed like this. These were the clothes she normally wore on missions, chosen for comfort and practicality, but . . . _Great, now she's going to think I'm playing the "White Knight" routine for her daughter._

But the older woman didn't say anything. Aerith, seemingly oblivious to the discomfort of both her "bodyguard" and her mother, smiled at Tifa gratefully. "Mom, Tifa needs to go to Sector 7. I'm taking her there, okay?"

"Aerith, don't you think you should wait until tomorrow? It's getting late and I don't want you going back out again."

Aerith sighed. "You're right, Mom."

"Now, why don't you go make up the guest bed for Ms. Lockheart?"

"Yes, ma'am." At the foot of the stairs, Aerith paused. "Thank you for taking me home, Tifa." The glow of her smile washed over Tifa like a wave of warmth. "We'll go to Sector 7 tomorrow."

Mrs. Gainsborough watched her run up the stairs before turning to Tifa. "So, they were looking for her again," she sighed.

Tifa looked at the ground. "Yes."

She looked troubled. "Thank you, Ms. Lockheart, for protecting her, but . . ."

Tifa quickly moved to explain. "Ma'am, Aerith actually saved me. I was lost and she offered to help me find my way home. Then the Turks came along, so I—"

"Don't worry, Ms. Lockheart, I have no doubt of your good intentions. I just worry about my daughter going out everyday. It's so dangerous." She took a deep breath. "Could you please leave tonight, without telling Aerith? I'm sorry," she added. "But it's what's best for her."

Tifa glanced at the stairs. As easily and as guiltily as could imagine the betrayal and sadness in those green eyes, she could only agree.

* * *

"You're up bright and early." 

Tifa froze, turning with a guilty look in her eye. "Uh, Aerith."

Aerith stuck her hands on her hips. "Well? Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

Lockheart scratched her head and glanced down. "I'm sorry, Aerith. I, well . . .I couldn't ask you to go with me, and . . ."

_(. . . dangerous. I don't think I can . . .)_

_(. . . no problem if you protect . . .)_

The flashback was over as quickly as it played through her mind. Tifa shook the memory away uncomfortably. This was no time to be thinking about what happened.

"I'm sorry, Aerith," she admitted. "I, well . . . I couldn't ask you to go with me. Besides . . ." She didn't want to lay blame on Elmyra, who really had the right idea. There was no reason to put Aerith in danger, and the sooner the two of them parted ways, the better.

_You're as bad as . . . _She brushed the thought away.

To her surprise, Aerith smiled. "That's okay. My mother was just trying to protect me." She waved a hand at the enormous brick wall at the end of the rows of houses. There was a hole just large enough for one person to crawl through at the base of it. "I promised I'd take you to Sector 7. This way."

* * *

AN: When I get bored in PreCalculus, who knows what may happen. This came about when I wondered what would have happened if Tifa had fallen off the bridge at the reactor instead of Cloud, and so met Aerith first. 

Everybody will probably be a bit OOC, seeing as I've never written a Final Fantasy fic before, and it will take a little tweaking to do a Tifa/Aerith.

AN2: Second version. Added some stuff in to accommodate some additions I'm making to the back-story.

Next, the Wall Market, Don Corneo, and Cloud as a girl!


	2. You Have Nice Hands, Too

Title: The Fighter and the Faerie Queen

Chapter: 2-You Have Nice Hands, Too

Game: Final Fantasy VII

Rating: T

Author: Death Mountain

Disclaimer: As said before, I don't own FFVII.

* * *

The gate to Sector 7 was by a tiny, pitiful-looking park with a giant white Mog slide and a rusted set of swings. The disused playground had fallen into disrepair and dusty ancient sleep. The cheery face of the Mog now looked just plain creepy, gazing blankly at the surrounding ruin. 

Aerith stopped at the broken park gate and waved a hand. "The gate to Sector 7 is in there."

Tifa nodded. "Thanks, Aerith. Will you be all right getting home on your own? I mean . . ."

The other woman pressed her hands to her face in mock horror. "Oh no! Whatever will I do?" With that her expression abruptly shifted to annoyed and faintly hurt. "Isn't that what you want me to say?"

Tifa laughed nervously. She really should take Aerith home, but she needed to get to Sector 7 as quickly as possible. Aerith could probably make it back on her own, but Tifa didn't like to think that something would happen on her way . . . With a sigh, she gave in. "I'll take you to Sector 7."

Aerith nodded. "I could do that. But won't I be in your way?" She gave Tifa an odd look.

"What do you mean, in the way?" Tifa asked guiltily, as she had been worrying about the same thing. Suddenly it seemed foolish to think so little of this girl, who was surprisingly resilient and admittedly very brave, as one had to be growing up in the slums.

"Nothing!" Aerith muttered, suddenly on the defensive. "Can we take a break?"

She hurried through the gate into the depressing little park, gazing at the Mog slide with wide eyes. "I can't believe it's still here . . ." she whispered.

Tifa glanced at the gate to Sector 7. She would have to wait for someone to come through it first for it to open. Aerith was calling her name from the top of the Mog slide and waving. With a shrug, she went to join her.

The smaller woman swung her legs childishly, kicking against the Mog's cement surface. A far away look was in her eye, and her sweet face tightened with some old emotion. "Tifa," she said. "What happened before you met me in the church? How did you fall?"

Tifa hugged her knees. "I was on the surface, and there was an explosion."

"Oh," Aerith said quietly. Tifa wondered what was on her mind.

Surely it wouldn't hurt to tell her a little bit about AVALANCHE. "I was with my friends, Cloud and Barret, on . . . on a mission."

"Cloud? You were saying his name, before you woke up that time." Aerith's voice sounded odd.

As she spoke, Tifa's voice very clearly showed her love for Cloud. "He's a childhood friend my hometown. He is, was, in SOLDIER, until a while ago."

"SOLDIER? Really?" Aerith looked up suddenly. "What rank is he?"

"Um," Tifa racked her brain to remember. Of course, she didn't know for certain; all she had to go on was Cloud's word. "First class, I think."

Aerith's eyes widened. "Just like him."

"Huh? Just like who?"

"My old boyfriend. My first boyfriend." Aerith sighed. "That was years ago, though. I was young, and he went missing suddenly. Not that it really matters." She furrowed her brow, as though thinking hard about something. "_That's_ weird, though . . ."

Tifa blinked. "What's weird?"

Aerith was giving her a funny, sideways sort of look. It felt like she was under some silent scrutiny of the older woman's. "Tifa, have you—" She clamped her mouth shut as the ground shook and a deep rumbling rolled through the area. With a load creak the gates to Sector 7 rolled open, admitting a traders' carriage pulled by a yellow Chocobo. Aerith's gaze followed it. "They must be going to the Wall Market," she commented, apparently giving up on whatever she had been about to say before.

One of the checkpoint guards waved to the trader, sparing the girls a cursory glance. Then he did a double-take, hollered something to his partner, and hustled over to Tifa and Aerith. The girls exchanged glances and slid off the Mog slide.

"Excuse me, you're the owner of 7th Heaven, Tifa Lockheart, right?" the soldier asked curiously, examining the girls appreciatively.

Tifa was tempted to remind him that their faces were not on their chests. "Yes, that's me," she confirmed impatiently. "Why?"

The guard blinked and dug in his pocket, coming up with a small folded piece of paper. "Some guy left a message to give to you, ma'am. He told me to give this to Tifa Lockheart, who owns the bar 7th Heaven, if she passed through the gate."

"What guy? Did he have spiky blonde hair?" Tifa leaned forward.

"No, ma'am, it was a big, burly guy with a gun on his arm. He had a really scary-looking blonde guy with him, though. Looked like was in SOLDIER, with those eyes."

Tifa received the note with wide eyes. "Barret and Cloud." She rounded on the guard. "Where did they go?"

He waved his hands helplessly. "I dunno! The blonde guy went toward the Wall Market, I think!"

Tifa's face flushed with anger. "Thank you," she bit out.

"What's the note say, Tifa?" Aerith asked as the guard went back through the gate.

"'Tifa, if you get this note before I see you, I've gone to the Wall Market. Something's up, and Barret thinks we can find information there. Stay in Sector 7 where it's safe. —Cloud." Now she was really angry. Tifa's hands trembled with barely suppressed fury. With a snarl she tore the paper into pieces, and let them float the ground.

"Tifa?" Aerith moved to prevent an explosion.

Tifa stamped at the ground in anger. "Damn it, Cloud! You idiot, how can you say that!" she groaned. "So much for our promise." She turned to Aerith, still fuming. "Aerith, you go home, okay?"

"What? Where are you going?"

"I'm going after Cloud, of course!" she snapped, and toned her anger down a little. "Thanks for showing me here, Aerith. I can't have you getting involved in this."

"Wait a minute! Your Cloud was telling you to go home, but now you're just saying the same thing to me!" Aerith pointed out. "And I'm older than you are, anyway."

"Aerith," Tifa said gently, or as gently as she could. "This isn't like a trip to Sector 7. I don't know if you've heard of AVALANCHE, but—"

Aerith waved this off dismissively. "Well, you're a member, right? That's how I know I'll be safe with you."

Tifa started. "How did you know I'm a member of AVALANCHE?"

"Did you think you were hiding it? Well, you just said then that you fell during a mission, and there was an explosion on the surface. Everybody's been talking about the anti-ShinRa environmentalist terrorist group blowing up Makou reactors." Aerith shrugged. "There's a rumor going around that AVALANCHE is based in Sector 7."

Barret would not be happy to hear that. He stressed the importance of secrecy to a fault. But even he knew how quick rumor traveled in the slums. Tifa shook her head wearily. "It's dangerous. You should just go home."

"Is that all?" Aerith shrugged. "Don't you trust me, Tifa?"

To her amazement, she did trust her, completely. Tifa nodded.

"Okay. Let's go then!" She took Tifa's hand and pulled her along the way.

* * *

"This place is scary in a lot of ways, especially for a girl. So we've got to find Cloud fast," Aerith warned as they entered. 

The infamous Wall Market was a lively place always in motion. Vendors and salesmen at every turn boasted their superior goods and cheaper wares, hollering insults at each other over the din. The shadier suppliers lurked in the shadowed alleys selling what you could only get from them. Flashing lights and loud colors rendered it a surreal, psychedelic experience in a completely different world detached from the rest of the slums. Various scents of spices, old wood, dust, and many other aromas unidentifiable drifted through the crowd, intoxicating all caught in the rapid movement of the market.

After asking a great number of people about Cloud, the girls found themselves coming upon a building colored in shocking reds and pinks, decorated with a heart motif. The sign read, "Honey Bee Inn." As they walked hesitantly up to it a red-headed man in a leather vest stalked past them stonily. "Excuse me," Tifa called after him. "Have you seen a man with blonde hair and a big sword?"

He turned back and brightened. "Yeah, I did! He looked really pissed." He pumped his fists. "Think there's gonna be a fight? I'm thinkin' there's gonna be a fight!"

"Er, thank you." Tifa nodded to Aerith.

"Maybe he's here," Aerith suggested, moving on.

A heavyset, middle aged man in a red shopkeeper's uniform was standing outside the doors of the building chatting with the guard, a slimmer, younger man in a dark suit. Nearby an awfully young guy clad in the blue uniform of a ShinRa soldier danced around anxiously, shooting nervous glances at the doors, which opened to admit a laughing couple. The girl, in a terrible gaudy dress and heavy makeup, was hanging on the arm of a much older man in an expensive suit, batting her eyes at him and not-so-subtly pressing her cleavage up against his arm.

"Um," was all Aerith said.

_Cloud! I hope this wasn't what you came here for,_ Tifa thought hotly, her stomach twisting at just the thought of Cloud with one of those giggling, dolled-up girls. But Cloud wasn't exactly a ladies man, and sex was probably the last thing on the ex-SOLDIER's mind.

Aerith noticed the look of near-betrayal on Tifa's reddening face, and quickly grabbed her hand to pull her off to the side of the building, where a fretful young man was muttering to himself with his back to them. "Man . . . should I go . . . or not? I get so mental at times like this, I'm hopeless!"

"Excuse me!" Aerith said loudly, causing the man to jump and dart a guilty glance over his shoulder. "Have you—"

"Johnny!" Tifa stuck her hands on her hips and stared at him. Johnny was a shopkeeper's son back in their hometown; he and Cloud were the only people she knew in Midgar who were from home. "You said you were leaving Midgar, you fibber!"

"Ack!" Johnny hopped back. "Tifa! Er, I . . . uh . . ."

"Whatever." Tifa sighed. "You're an adult. Listen, have you seen Cloud around here?"

His face darkened and Aerith watched the exchange of expressions, sensing that Cloud was a point of dispute between them, and Johnny clearly did not like him. "Yeah, as a matter of fact!" He shook his head. "The jerk was asking about you, but I told him I hadn't seen you since before you guys left. I can't believe he was here! I thought that you two were . . ."

Tifa blushed. "Johnny, how many times do I have to tell you, Cloud and I aren't . . ." She shook her head. "We're just not! And you're here too, if you hadn't noticed."

Johnny held his hands up in defense. "Okay, I got it! Geez, you'll never change." He seemed to suddenly notice Aerith. "Hey, who's this?"

Before she could speak Tifa was on him again. "Nobody, Johnny. Where did Cloud go?" she demanded, missing the strangely flat expression on Aerith's face.

"I dunno! He left after talking to the manager."

"Okay, then. Let's go, Aerith."

* * *

"I really don't like the looks of this place," Tifa muttered. 

The entrance to Don Corneo's mansion was needlessly flashy, and it made her suspicious. "Why would he be here?" Aerith wondered aloud.

Tifa scowled and beckoned to her, leading the way in. She definitely did not want to know what went on in there. Certainly it had nothing to do with Cloud.

The way in was just as annoyingly showy as the outside. Carts strung with different colored lamps lined the walk. The Don's "mansion" could be seen up ahead. Tifa's eyes widened as she stepped forward and saw a familiar figure arguing with the guard at the doors. "Cloud," she said and took off at a run, followed closely by Aerith.

"Look, the Don's not into men," the doorman was saying, waving Cloud off like an annoying insect. "Now, shoo!"

Cloud started to protest but was interrupted by Tifa crashing into him and knocking them both to the ground.

Tifa blinked and got up quickly, dusting off her clothes as Aerith came up behind her silently. Seething, she reached down and grabbed Cloud by the arm. He stumbled to his feet as she dragged him away from the door. As soon as they were out of the doorman's range of hearing she whirled on him. "What the hell are you doing?" she hissed.

"Tifa, uh, you're all right," Cloud said dumbly.

"Forget about that! What happened after the reactor? What was that note?"

Cloud adjusted his sword over his back. "I had hoped you'd just go back to Sector 7. It's too dangerous."

"Excuse me?" Cloud seemed to sense he'd made a mistake, and he cringed. "Too dangerous? I've been in danger before. I don't need to be protected, Cloud."

She sighed. "But thank you for thinking of me. Now will you tell me what's going on?"

He opened his mouth to speak and noticed Aerith. One eyebrow raised and he glanced questioningly at Tifa, who just shook her head. "This is Aerith," she offered. "She helped me some. Aerith, this is Cloud."

Aerith was staring at the blonde fighter with an odd look on her face. "Right," she muttered. "Cloud." She looked between them and shook off her uncertainty. "This is private, isn't it? I'll just plug my ears." To prove this she stuck a finger in each ear and turned away.

Tifa found herself smiling. Aerith didn't miss much. "Well, Cloud?"

"I wanted to look for you," he insisted, "but when we got back to the hideout there was some guy sneaking around. So, Barret caught him and squeezed some information out of him." Tifa rolled her eyes, imagining Barret having a fit about the spy. "Something isn't right. The Don here is being paid by ShinRa for something. I volunteered to find out what, but . . ." He shrugged. "Guys don't get into the mansion."

"I don't doubt that," Tifa muttered.

Cloud glanced over his shoulder. "I found out just about everything I _didn't _want to know about this guy, like every day he chooses one girl from three to share his bed. Apparently he's in the market for a bride. I thought I could get in by messing with the doorman's head about that, but . . ."

Aerith turned around. "Sorry, but I overheard." She grinned. "So, Cloud, you're saying if a _girl_ wanted information, she could get in? But not a guy."

"Uh, yeah." Cloud frowned.

"So, suppose some _girls_ went in to get that information. It wouldn't be a problem if you knew the three _girls,_ right?"

Uh-oh. Tifa groaned mentally. She was impressed though; her opinion of Aerith just kept changing every time the girl did something unexpected.

Cloud scratched his head. "I guess."

Aerith stuck a hand on her hip and gave Tifa a sly, sultry look. "I think we fit the description of girls, don't you, Tifa?" she teased. Tifa blinked and a slow grin spread across her face as she realized just how much fun this could be.

"I believe you're right, Aerith," she chuckled.

Cloud looked back and forth between them nervously. "No, I won't involve you. Either of you."

Aerith shrugged. "I'm older than you, so you can't order me to turn back."

"I'm Aerith's bodyguard," Tifa added with a smile. "And she wanted to come here." _Never mind that I tried to stop her before._

"I've got my grudges against the ShinRa," Aerith informed them. "I wouldn't mind getting some dirt on them, myself."

"But you're not a part of this."

"I know about AVALANCHE, and Tifa saved me from the Turks. They want you, they want me. We should stick together. The whole safety in numbers thing, you know?"

Cloud looked desperate. "I can't let you go in alone."

"Oh, we won't be alone," she pointed out.

Cloud watched them nervously, apprehension coming into his eyes over the Makou glow. He seemed to finally catch on and glared at them dubiously. "You can't be serious."

They leveled their gazes at him.

"You wouldn't . . ."

The girls exchanged glances.

". . . Right?"

* * *

"I cannot believe you talked me into this," Cloud griped. 

Tifa sounded amused. "If you're going to pass as a girl, it might as well be a pretty one."

"You look cute in a dress," Aerith assured him, biting her lip and trying not to laugh. "You'll make a wonderful girl."

Cloud glanced anxiously about the market from where they stood outside the restaurant. The gym had been bad enough, but even out here he was getting funny smiles from passerby. By now it had probably gotten around to just about everybody that he wanted to be "cute." Why had he agreed to this? "Let's just get this over with."

Tifa grinned. "We'll meet you at the bar. Good luck, Miss Cloud."

He scowled at the comment and turned away in the direction of the Materia shop. As he disappeared around the corner the girls exchanged glances and burst out laughing.

Doubled over with hysteria, Aerith wiped tears from her eyes. "Wow, poor Cloud," she giggled, grabbing Tifa's hand.

The younger woman barely noticed. "This is to get him back for leaving me that stupid note." She smirked. "Come on, let's go exchange our Pharmacy Coupon. I'll need one of those Digestives in case I die laughing at 'Cloudina.'"

* * *

To Tifa's chagrin, Aerith had something else to laugh about at the bar. 

"Can I start calling you 'kitten,' Tifa?" Aerith stopped snorting into her glass long enough to tease her friend. "Or 'cutie?'"

"Shut up." Tifa blushed deeply. She hadn't touched her drink.

At the bar she had tried to use the restroom, but another woman was stuck in there, sick to her stomach. Giving her the Digestive had unforeseen results. The grateful woman, who was young and quite pretty, had no qualms with a little flirtation and some subtle brush-ups with Tifa. Thankfully she made a quick exit, giving Tifa an expensive item in gratitude

Aerith had not stopped teasing her since they bought drinks, and she wasn't giving up now. "So, Tifa," she continued, "is that 'Sensual Scents' for Cloud, or are you planning to keep it?" She lowered her voice in mimicry of the girl from before. "Not that you need it, kitten."

Tifa groaned.

It took another five minutes for Aerith to settle down, during which Tifa went up to the counter to get their drinks refilled.

When she sat back down her companion had sobered considerably. The girl took her drink and looked at Tifa thoughtfully. "Tifa," she said, "Cloud is in SOLDIER first class, right?"

Tifa took a moment to answer. "Yeah, that's . . . that's what he said," she mumbled, not mentioning why she had reason to doubt his words.

Aerith seemed to be struggling with something. "Do you think he . . . I wonder if he . . ." She trailed off. "No, never mind." Tifa frowned and did not pursue the matter.

After a long moment of awkward silence Aerith spoke again, sounding like she was trying very hard to say something. "You know, Tifa . . ." she began.

"Yeah?"

She lowered her gaze and avoided looking at Tifa. "You know back at the Honey Bee Inn? Talking to your friend Johnny?"

Puzzled, Tifa nodded. "Yes."

"When you . . ." Aerith sighed. "When you said—when you told him I was 'nobody,' um . . ." She searched for the words. "Were you just saying that, or did you mean it?"

What? Is that what . . . oh, crap. I didn't know I'd hurt her feelings! Tifa realized suddenly how Aerith might have misinterpreted it or taken offense.

"Am I really nobody to you, Tifa?" Aerith continued. "I don't want, after this, to never see you again."

"That's not it, Aerith," Tifa assured her. "I didn't mean to say that. It was just . . . I was in a hurry, and I wanted to find Cloud, and . . . I didn't realize . . ."

"Oh . . ." Aerith whispered.

She wasn't getting through to her. "What I'm trying to say is, you're not a nobody to me. And if I made you feel like, like a third wheel or something, I never wanted to."

Aerith nodded glumly. "But it was about Cloud. It was about getting back to Cloud."

"You're right. It was. I just wanted . . . but if I hadn't met you, Aerith, I might not be here now. And it's my fault that I underestimated you, but I won't again." Tifa smiled at her. "If we get in a fight, I might have to watch that you don't make me trip over my own feet. You've got a mean pole-arm."

That made Aerith grin a little. She startled Tifa by grabbing her hands and turning them over. "Maybe. But you have your good, strong hands," she said quietly, moving her thumbs over them. "Nice hands."

Tifa's face turned red and her heart seemed to beat faster. She realized that Aerith's hands weren't like she would have guessed, even though she'd touched them several times now. They weren't as soft as she imagined, but not rough, either. They were the weathered, knowledgeable hands of a devoted gardener. The coolness and gentle dexterity of the fingers made Tifa think that Aerith could be a good nurse.

"You have nice hands too," she replied unexpectedly and wondered why she said that, and why when she looked in Aerith's eyes she wanted to never turn away from that feeling of warmth.

* * *

Tifa gave the downed man one final, satisfying kick in the groin, reveling in the squeak that escaped his throat. She shook her head in wonder of how useless these guys were. They hadn't even considered for a second that she might fight back. If this was the Don's security, it was a wonder nobody had offed the bastard.

Taking care to step on several of the men, she made her way to the door, bursting out into the hall. The door across the way opened as well to reveal Cloud, looking very glad to be out. They met at the middle door and checked each other.

"There is no fucking way I am ever doing this again," Cloud grumbled.

"I'm glad you're okay." Tifa turned and swiftly kicked the doors to Corneo's office open. "Come on, we have to get Aerith!"

"You shouldn't have brought her, Tifa. Now she's involved in too much," Cloud chided, pulling his oversized sword from his back.

Tifa glared at him. "Aerith is a lot more capable than you think, Cloud. She's a smart girl."

"She must be something if the Turks are after her."

Tifa didn't answer, throwing the paper screens aside to get into the Don's bedroom. As they rushed in she saw Aerith scramble off the bed in time to avoid the Don's pounce. "Tifa!" she greeted excitedly. "Cloud!"

"What?" The obese mob boss looked up. "Who are you? What's going on here! Security!" Cloud cut him off with a yelp, narrowly missing Corneo's head with his Buster Sword.

"Shut up!" the blonde ex-SOLDIER growled, sidling up to the bed. "We're asking the questions now."

Tifa helped Aerith slip into her normal clothes, tossing the dress into a corner. The flower girl smiled and her and winked. They lined up by Cloud, putting on their scariest "woman scorned" faces.

"Now," Cloud said. "What did you send your assistants to find out? Talk!"

Corneo shook his head nervously. "I-I don't have to tell you that!"

"Tell us," Tifa demanded.

"If you don't tell us . . ." Cloud put one foot on the bed and leaned forward. "I'll chop them off."

"Eep!" The Don's hands flew to his crotch. "I made 'em find out where the man with the gun-arm is. But that's what I was ordered to do."

Tifa narrowed her eyes. "By who? Tell us!"

"No! If I told you that I'd be killed!"

Aerith moved up beside Cloud, mirroring his pose. "If you don't tell us," she threatened, "I'll rip them off."

The mob boss' face went white. "Waaah! It was Heidegger of ShinRa! Heidegger, the head of Public Safety Maintenance!"

"Head of Public Safety Maintenance?" Cloud echoed.

Tifa moved in. "Did you say the ShinRa? What are they up to? Talk! If you don't tell us . . .

"I'll smash them."

Corneo made a choked, gurgling noise. "You're serious, aren't you . . . Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy . . . I'm not fooling around her either, you know. ShinRa's trying to crush a small rebel group called AVALANCHE, and want to infiltrate their hideout. And they're really going to crush them—literally, by breaking the support holding up the plate above them!"

A ripple of shock passed through all of them. Tifa's blood ran cold imagining the plate plunging and crashing into Sector 7, her home. All those people! ShinRa was really going to do something so evil! "Break the support," she whispered.

Corneo rubbed his pudgy hands together. "You know what's going to happen? The plate'll go PING and everything's gonna go BAM! I heard their hideout's in the Sector 7 slums. I'm just glad it's not here in Sector 6."

"They're going to wipe out the Sector 7 slums?" Tifa murmured.

Aerith was looking at her, and her green eyes reflected Tifa's horror. The answer was already there, written in her expression: she was going to fight with them, just as hard, for a place that wasn't her home, for people she didn't know. She could have run home when she realized the danger, but she stayed. She stayed with them.

"The others don't know! We have to stop it," Cloud said.

Tifa nodded sharply. "Let's go!"

"Just a second!" Don Corneo cried as they circled back around the bed. They stopped.

"Shut up!" Cloud snapped, tired of this guy's games.

"No, wait, it'll only take a second. How do you think scum like me feels when they babble on about the truth?"

Cloud rolled his eyes. "They've pretty much given up on life?"

"WRONG! Woo-hoo!" the Don giggled. He did a little dance and yanked on a cord hanging from the ceiling.

The floor went out under their feet. Tifa screamed in shock and anger as she went plummeting into the dark.

* * *

AN: Damn perverts. And not the good perverts either, the bad ones! 

Next, if I can bring myself to get off my lazy ass to write it—the sewers, Tseng, goodbye to Sector 7, and Aerith's past.

AN2: Second version. Not much changed here, just fixed a few typos here and there and altered just a bit.


	3. The Broken Path

Title: The Fighter and the Faerie Queen

Chapter: 3-The Broken Path

Game: Final Fantasy VII

Rating: T

Author: Death Mountain

Disclaimer: Don't own them!

* * *

"Tifa! Tifa, are you all right?"

This time she had not been as fortunate as to land in a flowerbed. That thought came to her with the voice, and she groaned and rolled over, spitting out the nasty taste in her mouth. Cloud was bent over her, his hair and clothes dripping dirty water. He offered a hand, which she gratefully accepted. Tifa looked around in the dim light and gagged—the smell! "That bastard dropped us in the sewers!" she observed disbelievingly, glancing down at the shallow, murky water flowing around her ankles.

Cloud nodded. "Sorry, I didn't expect that."

"It's okay." _My socks are wet. There's nothing I hate more than wet socks! Except wet hair_, she amended, patting at her locks in clear resentment.

With a quick survey of the area she spotted Aerith nearby, just coming to. "Aerith! Are you okay?"

The older woman got to her feet, swayed, and nodded. Then she grimaced and pawed at her braid. "I'm fine, though I could use a shower."

"No argument there." If she was feeling kind of gross, she couldn't imagine how much Aerith must be regretting this little excursion.

Cloud opened his mouth to say something and was interrupted as a shockwave passed beneath their feet and a deep rumble shook the cavernous tunnel. The low growl following it did not sound pleasant, and it made Tifa wonder if maybe the Don had sent a little welcoming committee.

"What now?" Cloud wondered.

* * *

HEALING WIND!

Tifa and Cloud, feeling the warmth of Aerith's serene and powerful healing magic settle over them, prepared to execute their respective Limits and finish off the Don's monstrous, ogre-like "pet." The creature howled and flailed its chains around in fury as energy surged from the fighters until the air around them sang with concentrated power.

BEAT RUSH!

CROSS SLASH!

Tifa struck the monster in a rapid flash of fists and finished with a Somersault off the mark of Cloud's Cross Slash. The monster screamed shrilly, pulling off one more Sewer Tsunami before it glowed red and collapsed in a putrid heap in the filthy water. Lockheart took a deep breath and backed off to let her blood cool. Her eyes fell on Aerith, who was gazing at the monster in grim regret.

Cloud moved first to collect the items scattered around the monster, and turned to the girls. "Let's hurry."

Tifa hung her head. "It's too late . . . Marlene . . . Barret . . . the people of the slums . . ."

Aerith moved to her side and grabbed her hand, squeezing it tightly. "Don't give up! Never give up hope, okay, Tifa? It's not easy to destroy the pillar, right?"

Tifa managed a weak smile. She nodded. "Yeah . . .you're right. We still have time."

The ground shook again, echoing vibrations rippling underneath their feet. "That does not sound good," Cloud commented as he climbed the ladder to the next level.

Tifa followed him, a sinking feeling in her gut.

* * *

The empty Train Graveyard was illuminated by the ghostly lights of the broken train cars scattered throughout, forming a giant skeleton. It was at least a welcome change from the sewers, Tifa thought. She really was liking Midgar less and less.

She looked at her companions, wondering when it was she started thinking of them as a party. It was so natural to see them beside her. "This is the Train Graveyard. If we can get past the trains that are lit up, we should be able to make it to the Sector 7 station."

Cloud shook his head. "I shouldn't have involved you two in this."

"Don't you start!" Aerith chided, sounding amused.

Cloud took the lead. Tifa stuck behind with Aerith, who was watching her closely. "Are you going to be okay, Tifa?" Gainsborough asked carefully.

Tifa sighed. "I'll be fine. It's just that Sector 7 . . . everyone . . ." If they were too late, they'd return to a garbage dump . . . and a graveyard.

Aerith smiled at her. "Don't worry. We'll make it."

"Geez, Aerith . . ." Tifa shook her head. "Maybe you should just—"

"Tifa! We've gotten this far together, right? I'm not backing out now."

* * *

Gunfire and screams. Sounds Tifa had heard before; sounds that still haunted her.

The noise reached them as they jumped the last train and went barreling across the empty station. Just past it a crowd had gathered around the chain-link gates of the Sector 7 pillar which, Tifa was elated to see, had not yet come crashing down.

"We made it! The pillar's still standing!" she gasped.

She recognized most of the residents of the Sector 7 slums. Someone noticed the small group hurrying over and quickly spread the word. The crowd thronged around the returning rebels.

"It's ShinRa! ShinRa's trying to—"

"But AVALANCHE—"

"—gonna die!"

"—should we do—"

"Everyone calm down!" Tifa bellowed, taking charge. The panicky chatter died down as she waved her arms. Most of them knew her well enough to trust her with what she would tell them to do. "Where's Barret?"

"Look!" someone by the gate screamed, pointing to the top of the pillar, where gunfire illuminated the battle scene every other second. They could just make out a figure backing up to the edge, firing a gun wildly and without purpose. The force of the answering volley carried him right over the edge.

They all scattered as the body plunged through the air, striking the ground with a sickening thud. Tifa choked back a scream, recognizing the chubby Wedge, his round body contorted frighteningly, like a wooden puppet carelessly tossed in a corner. A shiver passed up her body, leading a fit of shaking that set her knees knocking and her hands trembling as she eyed her fallen compatriot in horror.

Cloud kneeled over him and carefully held his head up. "Wedge! You all right?"

He cracked a puffy eye open. ". . . Cloud . . ." he groaned feebly. "You remembered . . . my name . . ."

The words broke Tifa out of her panic before it could paralyze her. With a cry she stumbled over to him, falling to her knees. "Wedge," she said, bending over his prone body. His uniform was dark with bloodstains and it turned her stomach. "Wedge?"

"Tifa . . . help . . . help Barret . . . he's up . . ."

"Wedge, don't talk," she commanded, her fear melting into anger. She got to her feet and addressed the other slum residents. "Everybody, get somewhere safe, quickly! Get out of Sector 7!"

They scattered obediently, disappearing in various directions. She urged the last few to flee the area, shooing them away as Aerith and Cloud came over to her. Cloud had adopted a strangely blank look that made Tifa's heart jump in fear. She glanced over at where Wedge still lay on the ground, abandoned. Cloud followed her gaze and shook his head grimly.

"He . . . he tried so hard. He just . . ." she mumbled with tears in her voice. "And he used to be just this pudgy little kid living with us . . ."

Cloud touched her shoulder gently, nodding. "I'll move him."

She pulled Aerith aside while Cloud went to—she couldn't bring herself to think of it. She didn't want to think of Wedge as being . . . gone. "Aerith," she said slowly, controlling her voice. "I need you to do me a favor."

"Name it."

"Go to my bar, and you'll find a little girl there. Her name's Marlene. I need you to take her somewhere safe."

Aerith nodded. "Don't worry. I'll take care of her." She leaned forward and placed a quick kiss on Tifa's cheek. Tifa flushed and wondered why that embarrassed her so much. "Be careful, okay?"

* * *

"I hate to cut our chat short, but I've got an appointment to keep. Later." Reno dodged the last attack and tossed them a dirty look before turning and vaulting off the railing onto the ladder of his helicopter. Barret followed the copter with his gun-arm, firing wildly until it disappeared.

"Damn!" Barret smacked his gun-arm.

Cloud hurried to the control panel, examining the bomb. He looked back at his teammates despairingly. "It's no use. I can't figure it out. It's gonna blow."

Tifa's eyes widened. "What? Cloud—!"

The rapid fire sound of chopper blades announced the arrival of another helicopter. It rose into view and hovered by the pillar. The doors were open to a cold-eyed, dark-haired man in one of the dark suits that marked him as a Turk. Next to him an indiscernible figure hunched over, hiding its face.

"Congratulations. You have only a few minutes to live," the Turk said dryly. "That bomb will blow the second some stupid jerk touches it."

"Aw, shuddup, you sonuva bitch!" Barret hollered. "Yo' gonna get it, jus' you wait!"

The man yawned. "I'm Tseng, leader of the Turks."

"I don' care who you are!" Barret raised his gun-arm and started firing, the shells bouncing off the steel hide of the copter.

"I wouldn't try that," Tseng warned. "You just might injure our special guest."

The hunched figure next to him raised a familiar tear-streaked face. She blinked and smiled weakly. "Aerith!" Tifa and Cloud shouted. Tseng raised an eyebrow, glancing between them curiously. "Oh, you know each other? How nice you could see each other one last time. You should thank me."

"What are you gonna do with Aerith?" Cloud asked.

Tseng shrugged. "I haven't decided. Our orders were to find and catch the last remaining Ancient. It's taken us a long time, but now I can finally report this to the President."

Aerith interrupted whatever he was going to say next. The blue-eyed girl leaned over the edge and waved. "Tifa!" she called. "Don't worry! She's all right!"

"Shut up." Tseng delivered a slap that snapped her head to the side.

"You bastard!" Tifa blurted furiously, glaring at him with fire in her eyes. Aerith glanced back at her and flashed a teary, apologetic smile at her.

"Oh my. Look, it's starting." Tseng looked up.

Above them the pillar started to crumble where it met the plate. With a horrible creak and a resounding explosion, great chunks of stone and metal began to rain down as the plate slowly tipped to its side.

"Oh, well. Your funeral." Tseng waved and the helicopter took off again, swerving to avoid falling debris as it ascended past the plate.

Tifa grabbed Cloud. "What do we do, Cloud?" she wondered anxiously.

"I don't know." He maintained a stony face, not panicking in the least.

"Yo!" Barret shouted and hopped onto the railing, grabbing the pulley on a wire hanging above him. "We can get out this way. Hurry up!"

Tifa bid a final farewell to her second home as she climbed in front of Barret.

* * *

_By the way . . ._

Yeah?

_I wonder if Aerith is . . ._

Aerith?

She is . . . my friend.

_If Aerith is . . ._

_Don't you remember?_

Aerith is . . . she is . . .

* * *

This was, admittedly, her first time in a helicopter, and she might have enjoyed it under other circumstances. The view of Midgar from above was stunning, dizzying as the helicopter circled in closer to the ShinRa Inc. building at the center of the city. Cycled out in respect to the center were the Makou Reactors at the city's edges, spanning out in a wasteland drained of life and energy.

Even in this place the voice of the Planet reached her; it screamed like an anguished mother, protesting the rape of its land and elements. Behind it her mother's voice murmured soothingly that it was not the end, she still had much to do; she would not return to the Planet yet.

Tseng stared at her from his seat. Had the chatter of the chopper blades not drowned out all sound, he might have tried talking to her. It might have been nice, at least, to take her mind off where she was.

Tseng noticed her discomfort and smiled at her. She looked away. He was kind of cold, and she didn't quite hate him, but t was hard not to feel some connection to this man. When she was younger the two of them had a twisted sort of friendship, bittersweet because until she started to grow up she hadn't understood the interest ShinRa had in her, or the different sort of attraction she held for Tseng. As Aerith grew more skilled at evading ShinRa's advances he met the challenge with admirable persistence. Eventually as they both got older Tseng's work kept him at the ShinRa building, and he started sending his subordinates to take up his chase. It was no loss, and now Tseng was a man. Just another Turk.

The air whipped around them as the helicopter settled on the landing pad on the roof of the ShinRa Inc. building. Tseng was the first to get up. Aerith ignored him, and did not move or even turn her head when he greeted someone outside. When he reached to take her by the arm she swatted him away, evoking laughter, and got to her feet, stalking ahead of him to the door and hopping down herself. Two Turks watched her carefully, one a bald, dark-skinned man and the other a slim blonde woman who looked more like a hotel manager in her suit than a syndicate hussler.

"Watch yourself," the woman warned her. "You're only alive because Houjou wants to tinker with you in his little playroom. You're the captive, so act like it and don't think we don't rough you up a bit or—"

"Elena, shut up," Tseng interrupted, sounding bored. "Quit fucking around. If it weren't for Reno getting his ass kicked you wouldn't be here. You're lucky the President likes things done fast, or you would still be waiting a month from now to be promoted."

Elena's mouth snapped shut. She flashed Aerith a very dirty look.

"Come on. And don't harm her, or I'll deal with you personally. " Tseng laced his speech with potential threat. "You know how Houjou bitches when one of his 'precious specimens' is damaged."

Anger and disgust made Aerith's stomach turn, hearing the reference to her. A specimen, a thing in a jar, a caged animal. Something to be pinned down like a butterfly and picked apart, doomed to be reduced to a composite of labels and indifferent lab notes.

Well, she'd be damned if she let them take away her dignity. She flipped her braid and shot Tseng an evil glare, stepping briskly in front of him and going through the open door down the stairs before he could say a word.

* * *

"AAAAARGHHH!"

"Barret, stop . . .Please stop, Barret," Tifa pleaded.

Gunshots rebounded around them as Barret emptied his gun-arm on the crashed gate to the demolished Sector 7. The rubble stood in a pile and spilled over into the tired little playground just outside the gate. The playground bore the scars of Sector 7's fall, having sustained some of the damage on the side, even if most of it still stood. The Mog slide was impaled by huge shards of debris, like a distasteful caricature, and the swing set had bent over and twisted around itself, defying further use. All around the ground cracked open in places to admit the escape of steam from below.

Barret's voice bounced back to them in echoes of despair, calling out the names of his family, as though they might answer and call to him, "Here we are!" When he had finally exhausted his fury on the wreckage, his arm fell to his side and he hit the ground on his knees, his voice dying into silence. "God damn . . ." he muttered, and let the tears slide down to hang quivering on his beard.

Cloud and Tifa exchanged glances and backed off to give their friend the time he needed, knowing he would be back on his feet soon enough. His expression when he turned back to them was composed and his eyes dry, but still filled with an aching despair. He stalked over to the Mog slide and sat down on the end of it, looking very tired. "Marlene," he muttered, scrubbing his face with his hands.

Tifa was in the throes of a sort of shocked relief as everything settled around her. With wide eyes, she said, "Barret . . .? Marlene is . . . I think Marlene is safe."

He raised his head and stared at her. ". . . Huh?"

"Before we went up the pillar, I asked Aerith to take Marlene somewhere safe." Tifa ran back through the memory. "And when Aerith was in the helicopter, she said . . . She said, 'Don't worry. She's all right.' She was probably talking about Marlene." _But now Aerith is . . ._

A light came on behind Barret's eyes and it was as though someone flipped a switch. He bounced off the end of the slide excitedly. "R-really?"

"But . . ."

He shook his head. "Yeah . . . Biggs . . . Wedge . . . Jessie . . ."

"All three of them were in the pillar," Cloud pointed out.

"Think I don't know that?" Barret snapped, turning his face away. "But . . . we, all of us fought together."

_Family,_ Tifa thought. _I lost my family again._

"I don't wanna think of them as dead!"

"The people of Sector 7 . . ." Tifa trailed off.

"This is all screwed up! They destroyed an entire village just to get to us! They killed so many people . . ." Barret moaned.

Tifa looked up. ". . .Are you saying it's our fault? Because AVALANCHE was here? Innocent people lost their lives because of us?"

The rebel leader shook his head furiously and waved his arms around in the air, pointing to the rubble. "No, Tifa! That ain't it! Hell, no!" The volume of his voice started to rise as he grew more hysterical. "It ain't us! It's the damn ShinRa! It's never been anybody but the ShinRa!"

Her face flushed. It was true. ShinRa had caused everything—and now they had Aerith because of her negligence. _Damn it . . . I did tell her I would protect her, and I promised her mother, too. And promises are meant to be kept._

Cloud had stepped away a little as Barret continued to rave, in his element now. "They're evil and destroyin' our planet just to build their power and line their own damn pockets with gold! If we don't get rid of them, they're gonna kill the planet!"

_(Hey, why don't we make a promise? Umm, if you get really famous and I'm ever in a bind . . . You come save me, all right?)_

_(I'm not a hero and I'm not famous. I can't keep . . . the promise.)_

Tifa glanced at Cloud. _He didn't join AVALANCHE for me. He forgot all about me. He didn't even care when I got lost . . .! He wasn't like this before that time . . ._

"Our fight ain't never gonna be over until we get rid of them!" Barret finished.

She shook her head. " . . . I don't know."

He whirled on her. "What don't you know? You don't believe me?"

"It's not that. I'm not sure about . . . me. My feelings." _ShinRa was after Aerith before I ever met her, so what could I have done? Well, I think I only made things worse for her . . . Aerith risked everything to help me, and I led her straight to ShinRa._

Cloud still had his back turned. Barret, not satisfied by Tifa's answer, pressed him for his thoughts. "An' what about you?" The former SOLDIER appeared not to hear him, staring into space.

Tifa scowled. _To hell with this. _"Barret, I don't know about ShinRa, or AVALANCHE. I don't know about any of it." He looked back at her and waited for her to go on. "But they have Aerith, now, and I know that we need to get her back. And if that means we have to deal with ShinRa, I'll do it."

"Now that's what I'm talkin' about!"

"But I need to know something first," she continued. "ShinRa didn't want Aerith just because she was with us. The Turks were after her when I met her."

Cloud looked up suddenly, frowning. "The Turks?" he echoed. "You said that before, too."

Tifa nodded. "It was that man who planted the bomb, Reno."

"The Turks . . . ShinRa . . . Aerith . . ." He muttered. "Why her?"

"That's what I want to know."

Barret jumped into the conversation. "Didn' you hear that idiot in the helicopter? He said the President ShinRa wants an Ancient, whatever the hell that is."

The word made Tifa pause. She racked her brain trying to figure out why it sounded so important to her.

Cloud's eyes widened and his expression became very dangerous. "The President wants an Ancient? But . . . that's . . ." He went rigid and abruptly toppled over, barely catching himself as he landed on the ground. Swaying, he grabbed his head, speaking softly. "Sephiroth . . .?"

_Sephiroth?_

"Pull it together, man!" Barret helped him up. "Yo, Tifa, where did Aerith take Marlene?"

Tifa blinked. "Oh! To her house—that's the only place I can think of."

"Right! Take me to Marlene."

As they headed down the broken path to Sector 6, Tifa couldn't help but think that whatever Aerith had to do with ShinRa, the Ancients, and Sephiroth, she was on the brink of realizing something that she was not going to like.

* * *

AN: Chapter 3 is done! Next—the group learns Aerith's past, and Tifa has a talk with Aerith's mother.

AN2: Version 2. Some typos fixed. A little messing around with words here and there.


	4. A Mother's Love

Title: The Fighter and the Faerie Queen

Chapter: 4-A Mother's Love

Game: Final Fantasy VII

Rating: T

Author: Death Mountain

Disclaimer: I wish I owned them!

* * *

The damage from the crash of Sector 7 carried over into Sector 6 and cast a shadow over the people living there. Some had organized themselves into small work groups or clean-up crews which toiled away dragging debris into heaps out of the way. Most people watched or gossiped, exchanging increasingly tragic stories of disaster that changed with each telling.

Nobody seemed to notice the rugged trio as they trudged through the streets, eyeing the rubble heaps. Snippets of conversation reached them, all the same in essence. Shop doors all bore signs declaring business closed for the time, and all windows were darkened by curtains or shutters.

"What a mess." Barret grumbled. Tifa was inclined to agree, but she kept this to herself, her mind on leading them to Aerith's house and speaking with Elmyra.

Amazingly enough, neither the house nor the garden bore the scars of the recent disaster. In contrast it seemed to glow faintly like a beacon. Tifa inhaled, catching a whiff of flowers, and steeled herself for the challenge ahead. Cloud and Barret stood behind her in a state of awe as she turned to the front door.

Her knock went unanswered, so she twisted the knob. The unlocked door swung open into the kitchen. "Mrs. Gainsborough?" Tifa called, stepping cautiously across the threshold.

Elmyra was standing in the middle of the room with her back to the door. Her stooped shoulders rose and she turned to face the guests. Tifa felt her heart sinking at the sight of the woman, whose very stance and expression suggested that she was lost in her own home. Tears brimmed at the edges of her eyes, but she blinked and smiled. "Hello, Ms. Lockheart," she greeted politely. "This is about Aerith, isn't it?"

Tifa nodded. "I'm . . . I'm sorry. She was captured by ShinRa."

"I know. She came here, but they found her." Her clasped hands trembled slightly against her apron.

"Why is ShinRa after Aerith?" Cloud asked. "Tseng said she's an Ancient. Is that true?"

Elmyra nodded. "Yes. She's the sole survivor."

Barret shook his head in confusion. "But aren't you her mother?"

"Not her real mother . . ." She looked away.

Tifa blinked. It shouldn't be so surprising; Aerith and Elmyra didn't look anything alike, but she had assumed because of the obvious love between them, that they must be connected by blood. Her stomach did a flip as she realized that Aerith might have endured the same loss as she did once.

"It must have been fifteen years ago . . ." Elmyra spoke in a faraway voice as she gazed into space, seeing some distant memory. "During the war, my husband was sent to the front. Some faraway place called Wutai.

"One day, I went to the train station because I got a letter saying he was coming home on leave. But my husband never came back. I wondered if something happened to him, but I told myself his leave was just canceled, surely. I went to the station every day. Then, one day . . . there was a woman and a child there. The woman had been injured, and she was dying.

"You used to see this sort of thing all the time during the war. Her last words were, 'Please take Aerith somewhere safe.' My husband never came back. I was probably lonely. So I decided to take her home with me." Elmyra smiled wistfully. "Aerith and I became close very quickly. That child loved to talk. She used to talk to me about everything."

Tifa tried to imagine Aerith as a child, talkative and friendly. The image came very naturally to her.

"She told me she escaped from some sort of research laboratory somewhere, and that her mother had already returned to the planet, so she wasn't lonely . . . and many other things."

"Returned to the planet?" Barret echoed dubiously.

Elmyra shrugged helplessly. "I don't know what she meant. I asked if she meant a star in the sky, but she said it was this planet . . . She was a mysterious child in many ways.

_("Mom. Please don't cry.")_

"She just blurted that out all of a sudden. When I asked her if something had happened . . ."

_("Someone dear to you has just died. His spirit was coming to see you, but he already returned to the Planet.")_

"At that time I didn't believe her, but . . . several days later, we received a notice that my husband had died . . ." She made no move to brush away the tears. "And that's how it was. A lot had happened, but we were happy. Until one day . . .

"Tseng from ShinRa came here asking me to return Aerith to ShinRa. She refused to go with him, and although he told her she was an Ancient, she denied it."

_("He's wrong! I'm not an Ancient! I'm not!")_

"But of course I knew. I knew about her mysterious powers . . . She tried so hard to hide it, so I acted as though I never noticed."

Her story ended there, and she appeared to be waiting for their reactions.

"It's amazing that she's avoided ShinRa all these years," Cloud commented. "Being an Ancient . . ."

"No matter how different she may be, she's my daughter. That's all that matters to me." Elmyra carefully wiped her eyes on her apron. "She came back here with a little girl, and when _they _came, she went with them in exchange for the child's safety."

"Oh, Marlene!" Tifa exclaimed. What had she done, sending them away like that? She had endangered Aerith _and _Marlene! "Thank goodness."

Barret jumped forward. "Marlene? She's here?" He turned to Elmyra, the tension that had gripped him earlier easing. "I'm sorry. Marlene is my daughter, and Aerith got caught because of her. I'm . . . really sorry . . ."

"You're her father? How in the world could you leave a child alone like that?" Elmyra chided him, her grief turning into anger. "What kind of parent are you?"

"Mrs. Gai—" Barret held up a hand, cutting Tifa off. She clamped her mouth shut. If there was anything or anyone at all that Barret loved unconditionally, it was his daughter. He could handle it.

"I'm so sorry. I . . . think about that all the time. What would happen to Marlene if I . . . but I hafta fight, too . . . or else ShinRa will just keep killin' the planet. But I'm her father, so . . . damn it, I dunno what I'm babblin' 'bout. What I'm tryin' to say is, I'm gonna keep fighting! But I wanna be with Marlene . . . always." He rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed. "Sorry, I'm just goin' in circles."

Elmyra reached out and patted his hand in a motherly way. "Okay. I think I understand what you're saying. Of course she's your daughter and you love her." Was she speaking of Aerith and her as well, as the faraway sadness in her weathered face suggested? "She's upstairs right now, asleep. Why don't you go see her?"

"Thank you!" Barret turned on his heels and was up the stairs in a flash.

Cloud had fallen silent, seemingly deep in thought. He simply nodded to the two women and followed Barret upstairs without a word.

Tifa felt as though an enormous crushing weight had just descended on her. Elmyra's sigh heightened her guilt. Feeling terrible, she spoke up. "I . . . I'm sorry. It's my fault Aerith got taken." She clenched her fists and stared at the floor. "I asked her to take care of Marlene, and . . . I'm supposed to be her bodyguard." The fierce sincerity in her own words surprised her. When had she become so attached to the older girl? Was this normal, to feel like a failure to her? _Don't cry,_ she commanded. _You're not a little girl anymore. Don't cry. _"I abandoned her . . ."

"No, dear." Elmyra shook her head. "Not at all. You mean a lot to Aerith—she told me that herself."

"She what?"

"Before the ShinRa got here, she told me, 'They mean so much to me. Cloud reminds me of my old boyfriend, so I want to care for him. But I'm so glad Tifa is with me, because she makes me feel safe. She means _so_ much, most of all, to me.' You've tried so hard to protect someone you just met, and she genuinely cares about you."

"No, I—" Tifa fumbled for words. "I'm not—Aerith is—"_ I thought she had nothing to do with this, and now she's so involved in it! A _tear escaped and rolled down her cheek. What was she crying for?

Elmyra stepped forward and pulled Tifa into an awkward hug, patting her back. "There there, dear," she said soothingly. This motherly touch pulled Tifa over the edge. How she had missed this, this warmth, since her own mother died! And now just as they had been separated, she had torn a mother and daughter apart!

Elmyra held her while she cried, tears leaking past the barrier that had once made her notorious in her hometown and in Midgar's Sector 7, for being a woman of iron fists and a heart of steel. She had thought herself made of tougher stuff than this, but here she was bawling like a baby in the arms of a woman she hardly knew. But Elmyra didn't know how hard she tried to stay strong for years on end, and even if she had known, Tifa was sure the elder woman would think no less of her.

So Elmyra held her and rocked her gently until her tears dried, and comforted her as only a mother could.

* * *

"We've taken advantage of your kindness," Tifa apologized, watching Barret kneel down for a last hug and kiss from little Marlene.

"No, no. I could do no less." Elmyra smiled warmly at her.

"We've taken too long already," Cloud pointed out.

Tifa shushed him. "Thank you, Mrs. Gainsborough."

"Don't make me feel so old, child. Call me Elmyra."

Barret pried Marlene away from him and stood up. "Please take care of Marlene," he said. "I only wanted to be with her." He bent over and planted a kiss on the four-year-old's forehead.

"You should get out of Midgar for now. It's not safe here, not anymore," advised Tifa. The gratitude she felt could hardly be expressed. "We certainly can't stay."

"I understand. Good luck."

"I'll tell Aerith you love her," Tifa added, as a promise to both of them.

She left that house not knowing if she would ever see it again.

* * *

AN: Hey, I'm getting organized. Hurray for me.

Short, I know, but I for one like this chapter. The scene between Elmyra and Tifa was something I felt I needed to have there.

Next—Rescue Aerith! The infiltration of ShinRa Inc!

AN2: Second version. Again, really not much changed here.


	5. The Highest of Hell

Title: The Fighter and the Faerie Queen

Chapter: 5-The Highest of Hell

Game: Final Fantasy VII

Rating: T

Author: Death Mountain

Disclaimer: I don't own FFVII. I don't own the original game script, which I am using for reference.

* * *

_Aerith is in there. _Tifa repeated this to herself like a mantra, ignoring the aches in her muscles from climbing the wire up to the plate. The trio rested in the shadow of the monolithic ShinRa Inc. building, catching their breath and gathering their courage. The sounds of chopper blades overhead and the swooping searchlights made Tifa nervous. _Just bells and whistles,_ she reassured herself. _It's just a building, not a monster. The monsters are inside it—with Aerith._

"Everybody okay?" she asked. The men nodded.

"What're we waitin' for? Let's go!" Barret stomped his feet impatiently.

Tifa rolled her eyes at him. "You can't expect to just walk in there and fight our way through." She pointed to a door set off to the side, marked "Stairs." "There, let's be safe."

Barret threw up his hands, exasperated. "Women!" he scoffed. "Howzabout you, Cloud? You oughta know this building well."

Cloud rubbed his chin for a moment. "Not really, now that I think about it. This is the first time I've been to Headquarters."

"I've heard 'bout this place before. Look, every floor above the sixtieth is special. Even employees can't get up there easy. That must be where they took Aerith. Let's go now, while security is light!"

"Barret!" Tifa protested indignantly.

"Tifa, if we keep wastin' time like this—"

Her face burned with anger. "Fine, you two go get your asses kicked trying to pass security, and give us away before we can get anywhere. _I'm _taking the stairs." Ignoring their dumbfounded looks, she broke off at a run to the stairway door. When it became clear that she wasn't messing around, Cloud shrugged and went after her.

"What the? Damn it!" Barret bellowed in frustration at being outvoted, but turned to join them anyway.

* * *

The stairs ended predictably at the sixtieth floor, and by the time they got up there, Tifa began to wonder if it wouldn't have been easier after all to just try their luck with security and elevators. Barret echoed their sentiments as they stopped to rest on the last landing. "N . . . never wanna see . . . no more stairs the rest of my life . . ." he panted.

Past the sixtieth floor the security formed a tight ring around the private sections of the ShinRa Inc. building. They went to ridiculous lengths just to acquire the keycards for each floor, encountering various unfamiliar monsters that seemed to inhabit the shadows of the place.

After searching a room with a three-dimensional model of Midgar, they were pleased to come upon a floor that appeared to be primarily offices and labs. It was busy enough that nobody seemed to notice three unruly strangers emerging from the stairs. Even when they addressed the occupants directly, the only answers they got were ". . . Phew!" and "I dunno, ask so-and-so."

"The department heads? Oh, they're having an executive meeting. I wonder if it's about that Plate incident," a secretary informed them absently, strolling off again with an armful of papers.

"Hey, when you're in the bathroom, do you ever hear whispers coming from somewhere?"

"Is it just me or does the Conference Room smell like a toilet?"

"The bathrooms have been broken since last week."

"Ugh. Whoever built the ventilation system in this place should be shot." All this among the various conversations they passed.

"Hey, check it out," Barret muttered as they turned a corner. "The bigwigs."

A group of important-looking suits was filing into the Conference Room. Tifa recognized a few of them as the department heads of the company. No doubt the President was in there already. The door locked and bolted heavily behind them, barring all entry.

"You guys thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?" Barret grinned.

"Not really," Cloud said noncommittally.

"What? I'm talkin' about eavesdroppin'!"

Tifa nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah. The bathrooms, right? Air ducts?"

The bathroom stench seemed to be traveling through the air ducts after all, as they discovered upon investigating a stall. They removed the vent cover and Barret hoisted them up. Seeing the tight space made Tifa just a little less enthusiastic about crawling around up there.

It was a miracle Barret could fit. "Damn fools! Who the hell makes these big enough to crawl around in, anyway?" He snorted, following Cloud and Tifa through the ducts.

"Eugggh!" Tifa shrieked.

"What happened?" Cloud called over his shoulder.

"I think I just crawled over a dead rat. A really big one."

Barret chuckled and Tifa shushed him. Up ahead, Cloud stopped abruptly, motioning to them. "Down there," he muttered. They squeezed into comfortable positions to peer through the grating into the Conference Room, where all the executives were seated at a long table. At the very end was the President.

". . . dropping. I suggest we up the taxes in every area to support the damage costs," one of the chairmen was saying.

"But then the people will lose confidence." A dark-haired man with a goatee and a mustache raised his hand. "We need their support."

"So? They're all idiots—just throw 'em some speeches! What could they possibly do?" the President scoffed, clearly not impressed by the argument.

"Gyahahaha!" A round man in a hideous suit leaned back in his chair, his belly shaking with laughter. "That's right! After all, we're the ones who saved Sector 7 from big bad AVALANCHE!" He chortled nastily.

"Ugh. Those bastards!" Barret clenched his fist.

The man with the goatee glanced uneasily at the people in the room. "Right, then, uh . . . the estimated cost of rebuilding Sector 7 amounts to—"

"Forget it," the President interrupted.

"Sir?"

"I said forget it. We're leaving Sector 7 as it is. Let it be a lesson to those fools down there."

His underling stared at him, openly shocked. "B-but, sir!"

"Enough, Reeve. We're proceeding with the Neo-Midgar plan."

"Then . . . the Ancients?"

"The Promised Land will soon be ours. I want you to raise the Makou rates fifteen percent."

A small, bald man with a red mustache and an orange suit started to bounce up and down excitedly in his seat. "Rate hike! Rate hike! Tralala! And please include our Space Program in the budget!"

"Heidegger and Scarlet will divide the extra income from the rate increase."

The fat man and a curvy, attractive blonde woman in a slim red dress both sat up straighter. The shunted department head sulked, jutting his lower lip out like a child.

At the sound of the big doors opening all heads went up. Shuffling up to the table was a man whose spine seemed to have adapted permanently to a curve to match his hunched state. He sported thickish spectacles and a white lab coat. His entire presence gave one the impression of a weasel.

"Ah, Houjou!" President ShinRa greeted him like old friends. "How's the girl?"

"As a specimen," he sneered, "she is inferior to her mother. I'm still in the process of comparing her with her mother, Ifalna, but for now the difference is eighteen percent."

ShinRa waved a hand, bored. "How long will the research take?"

"At this rate, one hundred twenty years. It's probably impossible to finish in our lifetime, and unfortunately the specimens never last that long. So we're looking to breeding her."

Tifa felt anger surge inside her chest when it became clear that he was speaking of Aerith. The tone in his voice showed no sympathy for the object of his experimentation. Aerith might as well be a rare animal species in a cage to him.

"Well, speed it up then. You've got plenty of funding," President ShinRa snapped. "As long as it gets us to the Promised Land."

"Very well. If I may return to my work, I will have a more adequate report for you."

"Dismissed then. That concludes our meeting."

Tifa shifted uncomfortably as the chairpersons exited the Conference Room. The woman Scarlet lingered, casting her gaze up to the ceiling, directly at the air vent. Immediately Tifa clapped a hand over her own mouth to silence her heavy breathing. "Something stinks," Scarlet muttered, and turned to the door in a wave of gold and crimson.

"That was close," Cloud admitted.

Tifa moved her hand. "They were talking about Aerith, so she's definitely somewhere in the building." She squirmed and kicked Barret in the arm. "Move! Go back! We have to find her."

"Ow! Okay, I'm goin'!" grumbled Barret.

* * *

They caught up to Houjou as he was turning a corner and heading for the stairs. He had a stoop and a slink to his step that put words into Tifa's head like "snake" and "rat" and "worm." The people he passed scooted nervously away from him, or changed direction entirely to avoid crossing him.

"So that's Houjou . . ." Cloud muttered.

"D'you know him?" Barret peeked around a corner.

The Ex-SOLDIER was quiet for a moment. "I never met him myself, but I've heard of him." He sounded uncertain. The confusion in his eyes worried Tifa. Was his memory getting worse?

"I wonder what the President's got him doing here." Barret rubbed his gun-arm.

"Whatever it is, it can't be good for Aerith." Tifa fell into place in between the two men as they filed down the hallway in careful pursuit of the scientist.

* * *

Seeing the flower girl lying motionless in the contained chamber made Tifa's heart skip a beat, and her name sprung from her lips. "Aerith!" she cried, plowing past Cloud and Barret to stop just short of the chamber.

Houjou, hunched over gazing at his prisoner, turned his head at their intrusion. "Aerith? Is that her name?" He glanced at the girl sprawled out on the floor of the chamber, and back to the trio waiting anxiously. "Outsiders . . ."

"Shoulda noticed it earlier, you . . .!" snarled Barret.

The dark-haired scientist shrugged nonchalantly. "There's so many frivolous things in this world."

Cloud stepped forward. "Professor Houjou. Long time no see."

"I'm sorry, have we met?" Houjou squinted past his spectacles, studying the blonde man. "Oh, yes . . . you. Are you a friend of the Ancient's?"

"Aerith, her name is Aerith!" snapped Tifa, clenching her fists. She put as much fire into her glare as she could manage without burning holes in her eyes.

Houjou chuckled, touching the chamber door with a gentle hand. "She's my specimen. My . . . precious specimen," he drawled in the same tone as one would speak of a lover. Barret raised his gun-arm and leveled it with a click, but the older man simply turned his nose up at him. "Are you going to kill me? I don't think you should. The equipment here is extremely delicate, and without me, who could operate it? Hm?"

"Fuck you," replied Tifa.

He ignored her, waving a hand at his assistant viewing from the control room. "I recommend you think things out logically before you make any rash moves. Now, bring up the specimen!"

The lackey nodded and pressed a button. A hole appeared in the middle of Aerith's chamber, admitting a platform rising with a red wolf-like creature that they had passed downstairs.

It studied all of them with angry yellow eyes before turning to Aerith and growling, the fur rising on its back like a cat's. The low menacing sound seemed to wake her, as she lifted her head off the floor and stared at her new cellmate. Fear crossed her expression as she stumbled to her feet and pressed against the wall of the chamber.

"Aerith!" Tifa yelled.

Aerith saw her and shrieked, "Tifa! Help me!"

"What the hell are you doing?" Cloud demanded of Houjou.

"I'm simply aiding the progress of nature. These are both endangered species on the brink of extinction. I'm lending a hand. If I don't help, all these animals will disappear."

"Aerith is a human being!" spat Tifa. She nodded to Barret, who cocked his gun-arm and readied to fire.

"No, don't!" Houjou was cut off by a volley of gunfire striking the chamber wall. The chamber flashed and filled with light, wiping Aerith and the wolf from view. "Oh! My precious specimens!" Houjou moaned piteously, running to the door and fumbling with the keypad. As soon as the door slid open he was tackled and pinned to the ground by a blur of red fury. The wolf snarled savagely in his face.

Tifa ignored them, rounding the chamber to meet Aerith, who flung herself out the door and seized Tifa in a hug. "Tifa! You . . . came for me!"

"Of course I did! I promised." She squeezed the older girl, her heart pounding and her eyes brimming with tears.

"Tifa," Cloud called warningly.

Houjou had fainted from shock, and the wolf was turning away from him. It gazed at the group, and to their surprise, instead of attacking it walked over to the girls and plopped down on its haunches. "Thank you for releasing me," it spoke in a deep voice like a wooden wind flute.

"You, uh . . . you talk," Tifa observed.

It gave her a slightly offended look. "Yes. Houjou did not know that either. He found me and took me from my home, and I have been here since." Its sorrowful eyes turned to Aerith. The girl's expression shifted from fear to sympathy. She stepped forward and reached a hand out. The wolf allowed her to touch its mane, stroking the silky fur and fingering the feathers woven tightly into the hairs. "I'm sorry for attacking you. I did it to fool Houjou."

Aerith smiled in much the same manner as she had when Tifa saw her tending to her flowers in the church. "You're forgiven. I'm sorry I was afraid."

"What's your name?" Cloud asked, stepping forward.

"Houjou named me Red XIII. Call me what you like." It—no, he—got to his feet.

"Okay, Red." Cloud introduced them in turn and invited Red XIII to stick with them on their way out the building. Aerith seemed to have instantly bonded with Red XIII, so when Cloud suggested they split into groups she extended her offer to him and he agreed to accompany the girls.

In that moment when everything was calm, Cloud's voice broke the silence. "The elevator is moving . . ."

Tifa pulled Aerith away as the men and Red prepared for a battle. There was no way she was taking any chances now that they had what they came for. As they stood to the side, she felt Aerith give her hand a small, encouraging squeeze, and against all reason she felt just a little bit better.

* * *

AN: That concludes another chapter of this fic, which I will from now on refer to as FF: Project Yuri or Project FFY. I'm sorry that I take so long to update, but life has been crazy lately. On the 3rd of February, my best friend and "sister" gave birth to her daughter, Jocelyn Suzanne. Since then I have been concentrating on my niece and school.

AN2: Version 2. Pretty much the same, ne?


	6. ShinRa Mad Scramble

Title: The Fighter and the Faerie Queen

Chapter: 6-ShinRa Mad Scramble

Game: Final Fantasy VII

Rating: T

Author: Death Mountain

Disclaimer: I don't own FFVII, or Tifa or Aerith or any of the characters. I own my brain, and now that you have read this, I own yours, too! Goes to add reader's brain to collection

* * *

Getting out of ShinRa Headquarters proved to be nowhere near as easy as getting in. In fact, it was beginning to look like they'd taken a nosedive out of the frying pan and into the fire.

"You all got caught, too?" Cloud looked down the small rebel group lined up in front of President ShinRa's desk, all of them—except Red XIII—in handcuffs. Tifa nodded back to him glumly. She didn't know where Tseng had taken Aerith, but it eased her fears a little to know they wouldn't dare harm the flower girl that was so important to the company's goals.

"What about . . . ?" Red XIII turned to Tifa, looking incredibly unruffled and docile.

"Aerith?" She shot the President her best one-of-a-kind, venom-filled Lockheart's Evil Eye. "Where is she?"

"In a safe place," The President didn't even bother to look her way. He slid out of his seat at the desk, sighing heavily as though it were a great labor, and strode haughtily around to the prisoners. "She's the last surviving Ancient. Don't you know? They called themselves the Cetra and lived thousands of years ago. Now they are just a forgotten page in history."

"Cetra . . ." Red XIII echoed, prompting questioning glances. "That girl, is she a survivor of the Cetra?"

Tifa stared at him and wondered what he might know that they didn't. President ShinRa raised an eyebrow and continued. "Cetra, or the Ancients, will show us the way to the 'Promised Land.' I'm expecting a lot out of her."

Red looked around him with a frown in his eyes. "The Promised Land? Isn't that just a legend?"

"Yeah, that's jus' a damn bedtime story," Barret grumbled dubiously.

"Even so, it's just too appealing to not pursue. It's said that the Promised Land is very fertile. If the land is fertile . . ."

Barret shook his head, disgusted. "You think it's got Makou."

"Exactly! That," and the President waved a hand and spread his arms wide, "is why our money-sucking Makou Reactor is a necessity. The abundant Makou will just come out on its own! That is where Neo Midgar will be built. ShinRa's new glory . . ." He closed his eyes and stood still as if basking in that glory.

"Dumbass! Quit dreamin'!" Barret yanked futilely at his handcuffs.

"Oh, really, don't you know? These days all it takes for your dream to come true is money and power." President ShinRa snapped his fingers lazily and dusted his suit off. "Well, that is all for our meeting. If you need something else . . . talk to my secretary."

The dark-skinned bald Turk who had led them in reappeared, gesturing at them. "Come on, outta his way!" he commanded in his deep voice, motioning to the stairs.

"Hold it! I got a lot I wanna say to you!" Barret had to be pushed away from the President and then forcefully dragged to the stairs by the Turk, who barely spared a backward glance.

What a fine mess they'd gotten themselves into.

* * *

Tifa lay on the cot watching Cloud paced around the tiny, plain, gray-walled cell, a foot striking out every now and then to kick the door in vain. He seemed convinced that there was a way out, or else that he would press a hole in the floor if he paced enough.

"Cloud," she said finally. "Sit down. Go to sleep."

The look he gave her suggested that she was daft. "We're in a locked cell in the top level of the ShinRa Inc. building. Don't tell me you've forgotten what the ShinRa do to terrorists."

"We're not—" She cut herself off, meaning to denounce them. But terrorists was a perfect word for their group. They may be doing the right thing, but only terrorists blew up reactors and snuck into top-security areas of corporate buildings.

_They killed a whole town full of people just to get to us—terrorists. There is no way ShinRa will let us out alive._

"I wonder how the others are doing," Cloud muttered.

Barret and Red XIII had been ushered into a cell next to them. The one on their other side was presumably occupied prior to their arrival.

Cloud slumped against the wall beside the door and closed his eyes. Tifa rolled over and pulled herself off the cot, heading to the opposite wall and pressing her ear to it. "Aerith . . . ?" she called hopefully.

Relief came over her in waves when she heard the muffled reply. "Tifa?"

"Yeah, it's me!"

"You're all right!"

* * *

When she closed her eyes, colored lights floated past like brightly-lit Wutaian lanterns, calling out in soft voices that rolled off the edge of her hearing. The Planet sang in the voice of her mother, her true mother. Ifalna whispered to her to be strong and keep heart, that she was always protected by her, by the Planet, by Elmyra . . . and by Tifa.

_Tifa will get me out._

"Aerith . . . ?"

She jumped, hitting her head on the wall, and scrambled on the cot to face the direction of the voice. "Tifa?"

"Yeah, it's me!" she heard Tifa reply from the cell on the other side of the wall.

"You're all right!" Now everything was going to be okay.

"So are you. I don't suppose you know a way out of here?"

Aerith leaned against the wall in a sitting position. "There's a guard outside my door. I guess we won't get out until they come for us." She sighed, resigned. "Tifa, I'm sorry. You got captured because you came for me."

"No, I said I'd protect you, and I promised your mother that I would keep you safe."

Her heart sank as she recalled her mother's face when Tseng came for her. "Mom . . ."

"She loves you."

"Yeah . . ." Elmyra took in a child without a home, a strange child with strange history, and nurtured her with all a mother's love. "I . . . I always hear her. My real mother, I mean," she admitted softly.

After a small interval of silence Tifa answered, "You hear her?"

"I don't know how or why. It must be because I'm an Ancient, or . . . the Planet speaks to me in her voice, and I hear it crying out, especially in the city."

"Wait, the Planet? The Planet talks?"

How to describe it? Nothing she could say would make sense to Tifa. It would be describing the sound of the wind and crickets on a summer night to one who grew up deaf. "It doesn't talk, really, not like that. Not like we do. But it has a voice."

"What does it say?"

"I don't know most of the time. I can't hear it so well hear in Midgar."

"Oh . . ."

She drew her knees up to her chin and took a deep breath. "Tifa, I—"

"Yo! Why don' you two jus' go ta sleep or somethin'!" Barret hollered from two cells over, banging on the wall.

Aerith thought she heard something thunk against the wall in Tifa's cell—it sounded like a boot. She chuckled and stretched out on her cot, making a silent wish for a miracle, anything to get them out.

* * *

In an instant pain rippled across Tifa's torso followed by a wave of numbness. All the feeling seemed to leave her body and she felt like she was floating. She was vaguely aware of the splash of red from her chest but it was lost in the heated glow around her and the smell of burning chemicals.

Someone bent over her, calling her name. "Where's Cloud?" she asked. "He promised . . ."

"Tifa." Cloud shook her awake, back into the dull gray cell.

She sat up, a hand flying to her chest. The scar was there, but she couldn't feel it. All that remained from the day she almost died was that and a slight shortness of breath, and her ribs were a little out of place, but that was all.

Cloud stepped back. "Something's wrong," he said.

"What?" She stared. "Why's the door open?"

"I don't know. The guard is . . ." He shook his head.

They stepped out of the cell and Tifa had to turn her head to keep from getting sick. The smell of blood, and the body of the dead guard in a pool of red. "What happened to him?" Not that she had never seen a dead body or a serious wound . . . but this looked unreal.

Cloud had picked the keys off the guard's belt and he wiped the blood off of them on his pants. "You get Aerith. I'll go find Barret and Red XIII."

Ignoring the uneasy feelings in her gut, Tifa took the key to Aerith's door. Aerith looked up from her position on the cot when the door opened, and looked surprised, then joyful to see Tifa.

For some reason she wanted to shield Aerith from the gruesome sight in the hall, but the flower girl was older than her and she lived in the slums. She might have watched her own mother die painfully in front of her.

But she shouldn't have to relive that.

"Tifa, how did—" Aerith looked around her. "What—" Her eyes widened and her jaw hung, but Tifa gave her credit for the unflinching absorption of the scene. To her further surprise, the older woman actually stepped around Tifa and knelt down to touch the guard.

Tifa watched her rub the blood on her fingers and wipe it off before standing again. "What could have done this?"

Cloud, Barret, and Red XIII had emerged from the far cell. They joined the girls warily. Red bent his head forward to sniff and nudge the body. "I can track the scent," he announced, sounding even a little unnerved for him.

* * *

"Holy shit . . . he's dead." Tifa heard Barret mutter and tore her eyes away from the grisly sight of President ShinRa run through with a long-sword. The body slumped over the front control panels, still sluggishly spilling blood onto the floor. She took care not to step in the spreading puddle. "Who could have done this?"

Cloud stepped up to the corpse, ignoring the blood, and bent over looking at the sword. "This is . . ." His voice was almost a whisper. "This is Sephiroth's sword."

A feeling like being dipped in ice splashed over Tifa's body. She shivered involuntarily. "Sephiroth?" she echoed, the name tasting metallic and cold on her tongue.

Aerith's face showed warring emotions. Resigned, she turned away from the body and to Tifa. "Tifa?" she asked quickly. "Are you okay?"

That drew the others' attention to her. Cloud cast her a knowing glance, withdrawing a hand that had moved toward the blade. Tifa swallowed the lump in her throat and willed away the ache of the old scar on her breast, feeling irrationally that it might be bared now, red and horrible and still leaking blood.

"I'm fine." She chided herself. _You're not a little girl anymore. _"You said Sephiroth, didn't you? I thought he was . . ."

"So did I. But only Sephiroth could wield this sword."

"Who cares who did it? This is the end of ShinRa now!" Barret stomped his feet. "Hey, what—"

A round, pudgy figure darted out from behind the desk with a squeal and made a break for the stairs, only to be restrained by Barret. Cloud hurried over to help, grabbing one of the man's arms. A good look at his chubby face and his orange suit identified him as one of the department heads they'd seen in the conference room before.

"P-p-p-please don't kill me!" he moaned, sweat rolling down his face and catching in the folds of his neck.

"Yo! You're the head o' the Space Program, aren't ya?" Barret shook him a little and he wailed pathetically.

"Oh, give me a break," Tifa sighed.

"Calm down, Barret. Palmer, wasn't it?" Cloud asked.

"Yes! Yes! I'm Palmer! I'll be anyone you want, I'll be the bleeding Bahamut if you want, just don't kill me!"

"We're not going to kill you, just get a hold of yourself. What happened here?"

"Se . . . Sephiroth. Sephiroth came."

They all crowded in. Cloud got in about as close as one could bear to get to Palmer, squeezing his fat arm. "Did you see him? _Did you see Sephiroth?_"

"Yeah, I saw him! I saw him with my own eyes!"

"You really saw him?"

Palmer rolled his eyes at Cloud, very nearly rolling them right up into his head. "Ugh! Would I lie to you at a time like this? And I heard his voice, too!" He shivered. "Um, he was saying something about not letting us have the Promised Land—aagh!" He shrieked as Cloud's grip on his arm tightened in shock.

Tifa exchanged glances with Aerith and Red XIII. "Then what? Does that mean the Promised Land really exists? What's Sephiroth got to do with it?" Sephiroth was just plain bad news. Nothing good could come of him being here.

"Is he tryin' to save the Promised Land from ShinRa?" Barret wondered. "Does that mean he's a good guy?"

Cloud laughed. "Save the Promised Land? A good guy? No way! It's not that simple. I know him; Sephiroth's mission is different."

Barret opened his mouth to say something that was quickly forgotten, drowned out in the sudden roar of a landing helicopter outside. Palmer jerked away from them, using the distraction to bolt out a nearby door. The revolutionary ignored him, cursing. "Rufus! Shit! Forgot 'bout him."

Tifa blinked. "The President's son?"

"Yeah, I heard he's been assigned somewhere else for a long time."

Aerith shrugged. Red pawed at the ground. "I only know his name."

"Dammit!" Cloud drew his sword and took off, disappearing out the same door Palmer had used. Barret thundered after him waving his arms like a madman.

Red XIII looked at Tifa and Aerith, waiting patiently for them to act. At Tifa's nod the three of them exited through the door, preparing to meet the new President of ShinRa Inc.

* * *

Rufus ShinRa bore resemblance to his late father only in name. Quite young, lean but fit, chic and well-groomed from his pristine white suit to his fair hair combed back with care, he carried himself with rigid authority and dignity that were befitting of his title. He looked down his nose at the gibbering Palmer and cast a bored cursory glance at the rebels emptying out onto the helicopter landing pad.

"So," he murmured. Palmer scurried away the moment he saw the group round the corner. Rufus seemed to have about as much interest in the man as his father had. "Sephiroth was actually here. By the way, who are you guys?"

Cloud straightened his back. "I'm Cloud Strife, former SOLDIER first class!"

"I'm from AVALANCHE!" Barret announced proudly.

"I'm the owner of a bar in Sector 7." _Or I was._ Tifa corrected herself.

Aerith brushed her hair out of her eyes. "Uh . . . a flower girl from the slums."

"A research specimen," Red XIII bit out with a growl.

Rufus threw back his head and laughed, but it was hard to tell if he was just mocking them or if he found the situation genuinely humorous. He shrugged. "What a crew," he chuckled, reaching back to smooth his blonde hair nonchalantly. "Well, I'm Rufus, the President of ShinRa, Inc."

"You only President 'cause your old man died!" Barret pointed out.

"That's right." Rufus smiled. "I'll let you hear my new acceptance speech." He strolled forward, passing each of them in turn completely indifferently. "My old man tried to control the world with money. It seems to have been working."

_Of course it did. _Tifa folded her arms across her chest. ShinRa's control over the economy had divided the people into social classes, dumping the poor in the slums and keeping the elite society happy on the top of the plate. Aerith just shook her head in disbelief.

"The population thought ShinRa would protect them. Work at ShinRa, get your pay. If a terrorist attacks, the ShinRa army will help you." He nodded to Barret. "It looks perfect on the outside, doesn't it?"

"Bull," muttered Barret.

"My point exactly. See, I do things differently. I'll control the world with fear," he informed them in the tone one used when announcing their vacation plans. "It takes too much to do it like my old man. A little fear will control the minds of the common people. There's no reason to waste money on them."

"He likes to make speeches just like his father," Tifa whispered to Aerith.

Cloud looked over his shoulder. "Get out of this building," he warned. "All of you."

"What?" Barret snapped.

"I'll explain later! Barret, this is the real crisis for the planet!"

"The hell's that supposed to mean?"

"Just take my word for it! I'll go after I take care of him!"

* * *

In the middle of the hallway littered with bodies and carpeted in blood, Tifa stopped. Her feet wouldn't move. She looked over her shoulder at the stairs, fearing that their steps would never meet Cloud's feet. Cloud! She _couldn't_ leave him.

"Tifa." The group had noticed her hesitation. Aerith's face creased into a worried frown. "What's the matter?"

"What're you waitin' for, Tifa? Let's get outta here," Barret insisted.

"I . . . can't." She lowered her head guiltily and looked, pleading, at Aerith. "I'm going to wait." An apology wavered at the edge of her words, punctuated by a thunderous crash echoing from somewhere above them.

Aerith shook her head, her eyes softening. "I understand. It's Cloud, isn't it?" Tifa didn't need to answer. "It's okay, Tifa. Just . . . come back, okay?" she asked, touching Tifa's hand gently. "Here, give me your hair-tie." She reached back and pulled away the ribbon from her braid, letting her hair fall like a feathery shower down her shoulders.

Tifa removed the tie from her own hair and dropped it in Aerith's hand, accepting the ribbon like a treasure. The pink of it was striking where she knotted it into her own hair. When she looked up, Aerith had donned the red tie in a simple ponytail. Their eyes met and held for a long moment.

"I promise," Tifa said at last, "I'll come back. Because I'm your bodyguard."

The other girl gazed at her unblinkingly. "Do it because you're my _friend_."

* * *

Every step was harder than the last, but finally when they could no longer see Tifa's shrinking form, Aerith turned her back on the room, treading toward the elevator. She noticed Barret and Red walking protectively on either side of her. The mysterious lupine nudged her hand and allowed her for a moment to rustle his soft fur, and she smiled sheepishly at him.

"Tifa's tough," Barret said simply. "And Cloud—it'll take more than some ShinRa hack to take him down."

"I know." _She promised._

* * *

How they got out Tifa couldn't quite remember. She recalled Cloud shooting down the stairs and through exploding glass on a motorcycle.

Aerith's hand clutching hers, slick with nervous sweat.

Gunfire on a dark highway.

Searing pain in her shoulder as she fought to save the truck from swerving.

The green light of Materia and magic striking a massive tank.

A fleeting glimpse of a maze of city streets.

The outside.

The sun.

When her mind finally caught up with her she was lying on her back in the dirt. The sun was uncomfortably hot on her face and she realized with vague interest that she was going to get a sunburn.

_It's been a long time. Hello._ She raised her arm and waved at the yellow globe in the sky.

"'Bout time you woke up." Barret's gruff voice was instantly familiar. He steadied her as she sat up.

"Gee, thanks," she muttered, leaning forward.

Aerith was nearby tending to Cloud, who looked not quite aware of his surroundings. She could see the faint shape of Red XIII running across the open land in the distance, obviously relishing his new freedom. As he came loping back in their direction he passed Cloud and Aerith to stop at Tifa. His fur was windblown and he had to shake it out of his eyes, rattling the beads and feathers woven in. "Are you well?" he asked politely.

"More or less." Tifa noticed that both he and Barret sported the green signature glow of a healing spell working on the worst of their injuries. Barret had plenty of bruises and what looked like a nasty bump trying to form on his head.

"No worries." He caught her looking at him. "Some dumb bastard got lucky an' hit me when we were in the truck. 'S fine."

"Tifa!" Aerith called. She helped a dizzy Cloud to his feet and led him to the rest of the band.

"Aerith. Cloud." Both of them, safe.

"How are you feeling? Does your shoulder hurt?" Aerith bent over her. The sunlight lit on her hair and formed a sort of fuzzy halo; or maybe it was her own light, the same odd inner light she had carried that brightened even the streets of Midgar. Whatever it was struck Tifa as very peculiar, as though she had just noticed something about the older girl.

She discarded her questions for later and moved her shoulder with a wince. One of them did feel like she'd pulled a muscle, probably driving the truck. It wasn't serious, though. Aerith knelt down and hugged her carefully. "You really scared me, Tifa. You might not have come back." Her voice hinted at tears.

_I scared me, too._ "I promised, and I'm here, aren't I?" She looked up. "We're all here."

Cloud leaned on his sword, still shaking away the dizziness. "Barely. But we made it out. That's something, at least."

"Damn right that's somethin'!" Barret said. "And as long we're alive, AVALANCHE is alive! Right?"

Tifa didn't have the heart to argue with him. "Um . . . so what now?"

Cloud said, "Sephiroth is alive. I have to settle the score."

"And that'll save the Planet?" Barret prodded.

"Seems so."

"I'm going, too," Aerith announced. "Since I also have things I want to find out."

"About the Ancients?" asked Cloud. Tifa blinked, trying to remember what it was that seemed so significant about that. Aerith was an Ancient of course, so what did that mean to her and why couldn't she make that connection?

Aerith shrugged. "Other things, too. There's a lot I want to know about my past, and me . . ."

"I'm going back to my hometown. I'll go with you as far as that," Red said quietly, volunteering nothing more.

Barret nodded in Aerith's direction, "We told yer mother to get out of Midgar with Marlene, so they should both be safe."

"I don't know . . ." Cloud interjected grimly.

Aerith frowned at him. "Stop that, Cloud! I'm worried, too."

"Don't worry, I'm sure they're fine," Tifa assured her, giving Cloud a scolding look.

"Thanks, Tifa." Aerith gifted her with a glowing smile.

Cloud shook his head. "Then let's get going."

"Woah, wait a minute. You don't even know where we're goin' or how." Barret surveyed the group. "We need a group leader for this kinda thing. Naturally, only I could be the leader, so—"

"Maybe Cloud should be the leader. He was in SOLDIER, so he's used to this stuff, right?" Aerith suggested.

He stared at her, nonplussed. "Um, okay . . . ?"

Tifa sighed. "Cloud and Barret are both too hotheaded. You two would just get us into trouble. But Aerith's right, I suppose Cloud would know how these things work." She left that matter open for argument, waiting to hear Cloud's response.

As expected, he answered just vaguely enough to avoid a direct statement. "I guess I know enough . . ."

"Whatever." Barret waved this off. "At least let's split into two parties. The lot o' us're too noticeable."

"I'm going with Tifa," Aerith announced. "Does our deal hold outside of Midgar?"

Tifa grinned. "I'd say so."

"One of us should go with you—" Cloud began.

Said girls glared at him and stepped into identical poses with their hands folded across their chests. "We are capable of going on our own, Cloud, thank you very much," Tifa chided.

"Are you sure? But—"

"I may go with them, if you do not object," Red cut in calmly.

They exchanged glances and nodded. Tifa shrugged. "If you want to. As long as this isn't about chivalry or something like that." She knew Aerith had taken a liking to the intelligent lupine, and actually she rather liked him herself.

"You never needed no boy to take care of ya, anyway. Not even when we met," Barret pointed out. "I dunno what kinda stupid would think o' messin' with women as scary as you two, anyway."

"What's that supposed to mean, Barret? Are you scared of us?" Aerith's grin was slightly evil. Tifa snickered at the increasingly flustered Barret.

"Would y'all just quit messin' with my head!" he groaned.

Cloud tapped his foot impatiently. "Don't you think we should head out already?"

"Keep yer hair on, I'm comin'!"

Their destination was a small town called Kalm only a few days away from Midgar by foot. Tifa vaguely remembered stopping there before coming to Midgar five years ago—it had not been a pleasant stay. And this time with Sephiroth ahead of them and ShinRa behind, it didn't look like things were about to get much better.

* * *

AN: That's the end of the Midgar part, and now they have moved out into the world. This is also the longest chapter so far. Sorry it was sorta late. It's almost the end of the school year for me so I'll be busy with final exams and such soon.

Thanks for reading! Reviews are much appreciated.

AN2: Version 2. Typos fixed and whatnot.


	7. Fractured Memories

Title: The Fighter and the Faerie Queen

Chapter: 7-Fractured Memories

Game: Final Fantasy VII

Rating: T

Author: Death Mountain

Disclaimer: I don't own FFVII, or Tifa or Aerith or any of the characters.

* * *

The surrounding landscape spreading in a circle outward from Midgar was the obvious victim of almost total Makou drain, a stark desert of colorless sand and dust. It was half a day by foot before one could reach the outskirts of the city's area, where life seemed to slowly assimilate into the filtered sunstruck-yellow sands, bringing color back into the desert like a child's messy chalk graffiti on asphalt, and a smattering of greenery turned into the domination of grass over the endless plains. 

Red XIII, though he had volunteered to "escort" the girls to Kalm, was not much for conversation, and Aerith seemed to still be absorbing what had happened in Midgar. So all Tifa had to talk to was the gap-toothed, grinning old farmer they'd met along the way who offered to take them to Kalm by Chocobo cart for 100 gil. It seemed a little pricy to Tifa, even when he lowered it to 80 gil if she were to sit up front with him. He was too old to try anything and he was probably just happy to see a pretty girl with a decent rack. Anyway, she'd dealt with her fair share of lechers and perverts in five years of living in Midgar.

He talked mostly about farming, the coming harvest, the Makou drain and the pollution Midgar spewed back up. He mentioned his late wife ("Big 'nuff ter eat a Chocobo or two, 'n twice as pretty."), his children ("Three 'nt nearly 'nuff, I reckon. My mama had me first 'n then she had nine more."), and his Chocobos ("'s a Chocobo ranch not far 'm Kalm sold 'em ter me as eggs. I call 'em Sam 'n Ham. Nah shore which's which, t'ough.") Occasionally Tifa would look over her shoulder and see Red napping peacefully and Aerith gazing across the plains.

"Take care now, little ladies, 'n yer doggy, too," the old man said after he dropped them off outside of Kalm. Red XIII bared his teeth indignantly, but the farmer just tipped his straw hat and turned the cart right around to go home.

"Don't get mad. You didn't talk or anything," Tifa pointed out. "I don't think you really care about the details when you're that old, anyway."

"It's impolite."

"Some people are, though it probably wasn't on purpose. "Tifa turned to Aerith, who was looking at the quaintly built town ahead of them. "You okay, Aerith? You've been awfully quiet since we started."

She shrugged. "I'm okay. It's just . . . you know, it's first time since I was very small that I've left Midgar."

Tifa remembered escaping Nibelheim, waking up for the first time in Midgar and realizing, terribly, just how far away she was from a home that wasn't even there anymore. "Do you miss it?" she asked.

"I don't know. Not yet. But I guess I will. My house and my mother. The garden. The church," Aerith said wistfully.

"I'm sorry I only got to see your flowers once." Now why did she say that?

The smile that lit up Aerith's face was a little puzzled, but pleased. "I wish we'd had more time to spend with them. But you hadn't struck me as the type who'd like flowers, Tifa." She grinned mischievously. "Being the thug you are, Miss Bodyguard."

"Well, I like you." This time she mentally smacked herself for blurting out things she didn't even have time to put into thought. In fact she had no idea where that had come from.

Aerith tilted her head quizzically and smiled at her. "I like you, too."

* * *

"There ya are!" Barret greeted them at the top of the staircase in the town inn. "You're late, Tifa!" 

"Well, _sorry_ if three people are slower than two."

"Okay, okay. Yo, Cloud! Let's hear your story—ya know, the one 'bout Sephiroth and the crisis facin' the planet! Let's hear it all!" The AVALANCHE leader settled himself on the edge of a bed. The rest of them followed his example, except for Red who circled three times underneath the window at the far end of the room and curled up comfortably on the floor.

Cloud stared at his feet awkwardly. ". . . I used to want to be like Sephiroth, so I joined SOLDIER. After the war it was SOLDIER's duty to put down any resistance against ShinRa. That was five years ago . . . I had just turned sixteen . . ."

Tifa crossed her legs and sighed. Five years ago, she had been commissioned by ShinRa to play guide to a group from SOLDIER coming to examine the Makou reactor in Mt. Nibel. A few years before that Cloud said goodbye to her and left for Midgar. The thought of seeing her older friend again overjoyed her.

At that time, Tifa Lockheart, fifteen years of age, died . . .

* * *

"_Tifa, calm down," her father urged her in between long puffs on his pipe._

"_I'm fine, Papa," insisted Tifa, a slender pretty thing of fifteen with just the beginnings of a woman that didn't quite reach her bright and innocent eyes. She adjusted her large cowboy hat and smoothed the front of her shirt, checking herself in a mirror on the wall. Her new cowhide boots were her treasure, and she took great care walking in them. Her long dark hair she wore straight down her back, tied out of the way._

_She spread her arms out and spun once for her father's benefit, enjoying the short twirling skirt. "Papa, how do I look?"_

"_What you don't look is ready for a hike." He leaned forward to brush something off her shirt._

"_Pa-_paaa_! It's not like an actual _dress_, and I can move fine in it. Master Zangan says the only thing that matters with clothing is freedom of movement."_

_Mr. Lockheart shook his head. "If you say so."_

_A knock resounded on the front door and a man in a blue uniform poked his head in. He spotted the two residents and called, "We're getting ready to leave." The helmet muffled his speech slightly._

"_Finally!" Tifa threw up her hands._

_The group from ShinRa consisted of two men in identical uniforms and helmets, and a pair from SOLDIER. Tifa took the steps in a few bounds and hurried over to see if either of them was the blonde boy she had been waiting for since the notice came over a week ago. To her disappointment neither of them were her childhood friend. Only one of them was instantly familiar, but who didn't know of Sephiroth?_

_Her father eyed the team and pulled Tifa to the side. "I still don't like you doing this, but I know how excited you've been about it."_

"_Yeah . . ." Tifa muttered, her enthusiasm fading. The only reason she had accepted the commission for a guide to the reactor was that Cloud might show up. "It'll be okay. Master Zangan says—"_

"_Zangan doesn't have a daughter to worry about." He hugged her and stepped back to address the cold albino SOLDIER in the same voice he used with Tifa when he expected her to listen, no excuses. "Listen to me, Sephiroth. In case something happens . . ."_

_Sephiroth's expression remained entirely neutral. "Trust me."_

"_I'll be all right, Papa. I have two men from SOLDIER with me." Tifa put on her happy face. "Hi, I'm Tifa. Nice to meet you."_

_The second SOLDIER was a stocky dark-haired young man about the age Cloud would be now. Most striking were his laughing green eyes and the enormous sword slung across his back. Even with all of her training, Tifa couldn't dream of fighting with something like that._

_No, this boy was the exact opposite of Cloud. His body language showed everything he was thinking and he was clearly a frank, funny kid with a sharp wit and a flighty nature. He shook Tifa's hand eagerly, his youthful face practically split in half by his wide grin. "Nice to meetcha, Tifa. I'm Zack. Our boys sure do know how to pick a guide." He winked, earning a laugh from Tifa. She couldn't place his accent; it was one she'd never heard before._

"_Tifa?" one of the uniforms echoed, puzzled. "You're the guide?"_

_The smile she flashed him was practically predatory. If this guy was sexist enough to think a girl couldn't hold her own in the mountains she'd known all her life, he had another thing coming. "That's right. I just happen to be the number one guide in this town."_

_Sephiroth was apparently bored with introductions. "Let's get going."_

_The general store clerk had been watching them, and now he hurried to them with a camera. "Wait! Um, Mr. Sephiroth! Please let me take one picture for a memento!" This guy was a major fan, but even he cringed at the look of dry, withering boredom Sephiroth directed his way. He seemed to sense that Tifa was his best appeal, and begged her to convince Sephiroth._

_Zack nudged the older SOLDIER and muttered something; whatever it was, Sephiroth did not find it funny, but he glanced at Tifa, who shrugged. He made a point of looking disinterested as he stood on her right side._

_The flash went off, and Zack and Tifa dropped their poses._

"_Great, thank you! I'll give each of you a copy once it's developed," the clerk said, satisfied._

_Sephiroth took the lead on the path to Mt. Nibel._

Tifa blinked, coming out of a haze of memories and realizing Cloud had just relayed the whole story, almost exactly the same, from a different point of view.

But he wasn't even there! And he mentioned nothing of Zack; it was just him, Sephiroth, and the two unnamed ShinRa soldiers.

He must have heard the same . . . someone must have told him. Someone from Nibelheim.

Flimsy excuses, but she clung to them, feeling uneasy.

Nobody seemed to notice her discomfort. Cloud continued without pause, and this time Tifa was listening closely.

"The cold air of the mountains of Nibel . . . it was no different . . ."

"_I hope your teammate is okay," she said empathetically to the faceless soldier guarding her outside the reactor. She understood why Sephiroth had so coldly dismissed the matter of the missing soldier, but it didn't stop her from worrying. Once when she was younger she nearly died taking a fall in the mountains._

_Her companion did not answer._

"_Cloud never came. I thought for sure he would take an assignment in Nibelheim."_

_The soldier shifted, hoisting his rifle up into a more comfortable position._

"_Do you really want to be just like Sephiroth, Cloud? He seems so . . ."_

_He sneezed. "Bless you," Tifa said automatically. _Cloud . . .

"Damn ShinRa!" Barret's voice solidified the present. "The more I hear, the more I hate 'em!"

Tifa went back over Cloud's tale in her head. It was perhaps a good thing that she hadn't been allowed to go in the reactor, if she would have seen something like that—monsters, formerly human, sleeping in coffins that powered the reactor.

What Cloud said sounded realistic enough. She remembered Sephiroth coming down out of the reactor, practically radiating depression, and Zack looking like he'd seen a ghost.

Red XIII scratched his ear wolfishly and settled with his head on his paws. "That would seem to explain the increase in the number of monsters recently. I think we should listen carefully to Cloud. Don't you think so, Barret?"

Tifa raised an eyebrow, wondering if Red was actually teasing him. Barret did have a bad habit of interrupting.

"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled, rolling his eyes.

"Tifa, you were waiting outside, then?" Aerith asked.

". . . Yes."

Cloud nodded. "When we returned to Nibelheim, Sephiroth confined himself to the inn. He didn't even talk to me."

_Why would he?_ But Tifa remembered that clearly, too, and the fuss it caused. After all, the soldiers couldn't return to Midgar without Sephiroth. "Then all of a sudden he just disappeared, right?"

"We found him inside the biggest building in Nibelheim."

"All the kids thought it was haunted. Most of the villagers called it the ShinRa Mansion."

"Long ago, a ShinRa lived in that mansion . . ." He shook his head. "Sephiroth didn't come out for days . . . he holed up in the library and read as if he were possessed by something. 'Jenova' . . . 'Ancients' . . . 'Professor Gast' . . . I wondered what he knew about that . . . Then I finally looked in on him . . .

"He said, 'You ignorant traitor.' He said the Planet belonged to the Cetra—the Ancients—until we took it, and when it was in danger, they sacrificed themselves for it and disappeared."

"The Cetra returned to the Planet . . ." Aerith said softly.

"The Ancient, Jenova . . . the same Jenova . . . Sephiroth was created using the cells of Jenova." They stared at Cloud in disbelief. "That's what he said."

"Then Sephiroth's an Ancient?" Barret concluded.

"I have no idea. He . . . Sephiroth . . .

"When I came out of the mansion, the village was in flames."

"_Papa . . . Sephiroth?"_

He's dead. Sephiroth killed him.

"_Sephiroth did this to you, didn't he?"_

_She bent over his body, cursing ShinRa and Sephiroth. How could they? How could they? _He told me to be careful! He told me to be safe!

"_Sephiroth . . . SOLDIER . . . Makou reactors . . . ShinRa . . . everything!" Her scream, bounced off the walls of the reactor in an eerie echo. She fumbled around and snatched the sword lying by her dead father's body—his blood was on it. "I hate them all!"_

They were staring at her. Aerith's eyes had gone wide.

What she remembered afterward didn't make much sense. It was all in pieces.

"_Mother. I'm here to see you. Please, open this door."_

_That man, no, that monster. He did it. He killed Papa._

"_You, how could you do that to Papa? To the townspeople? Y-you monster!" She staggered up to him, brandishing the sword. Sephiroth's sword._

_His hand closed around it above hers._

_Sephiroth struck._

That was the second time she almost died. Her ribs healed abnormally, forever set out of place, and the wound scarred over. It still ached sometimes. If her arms and legs hadn't healed, there would have been nothing left for her, not even fighting. It was Zangan who found her and took her to Midgar, where he trained her until she could hold her own in the city. When Barret found her months later, she was a tightly wound bundle of anger and tears, stealing in the slums and fighting even other children just to stay alive. At first when he took in her she was wary of his intentions, but Barret turned out to be different from most of the men in the slums. He had a daughter of his own, and a few other kids he'd "adopted." When he first brought up AVALANCHE Tifa didn't even consider that she was "just a kid." All she wanted was to see ShinRa in ruins.

Had she gone anywhere at all since then? Was she still the same Tifa, had she really grown up?

"And that's the end of my story," Cloud finished.

"Wait a minute! Ain't there more?" Barret pressed.

The ex-SOLDIER shook his head. "I don't really remember."

What happened to Zack, and of course Sephiroth? She had often wondered this in the years since Nibelheim, but nothing came to her. Official records stated Sephiroth was dead, or so she read in the newspapers. When she pointed this out to the group, Aerith just shook her head. "ShinRa runs the newspapers, so you can't rely on what they say."

Zack was probably dead; more than likely so. If he was still alive, he would have been discharged from SOLDIER. ShinRa couldn't afford any more disasters like Nibelheim. Maybe he went home, wherever that was.

Then how did Cloud know all about what happened?

". . . I want to know the truth," Cloud was saying. "I want to know what happened then. I challenged Sephiroth and lived. Why didn't he kill me?"

Aerith crossed her legs, swinging them. "A lot of this just doesn't make sense. What about Jenova? Wasn't that what you said killed the people in the ShinRa Inc. building?"

"You're right; it was there when we came, so ShinRa must have shipped it to Midgar after they cleaned up in Nibelheim."

"Did someone else carry it out after that? The same person who killed the President?"

When no one else spoke, Tifa said what they were all thinking. "Sephiroth?"

Barret hopped to his feet, his boots slamming against the wooden floor loudly. "Damn! Don't none o' this make sense! I'm goin', goin', goin', gone! And I'm leavin' the thinkin' to you!" He cracked his neck and stretched. "Yo, Cloud! Les' get a move on!"

"Right," Cloud agreed, nodding to the rest of them.

"C'mon, then!"

When Barret was gone, Tifa asked, "Cloud? How . . . bad was I when Sephiroth cut me?" _I almost died,_ she added silently. _I broke both my arm and three fingers. My left leg almost snapped. My ribs still hurt sometimes. My scar . . . _

Cloud hesitated, avoiding her eyes. "I thought you were a goner. I was really sad."

_But you didn't do anything. Cloud, you weren't even there . . ._

"I . . ." Aerith spoke and then shook her head. "The Ancients . . . Cetra . . . Jenova . . . Sephiroth and myself . . ." Words seemed to escape her and she fell silent.

Cloud rubbed the back of his head nervously and stood. "Let's go. Barret's waiting."

"Be there in a minute." Tifa waved him on.

Aerith sighed beside her.

Tifa looked at her questioningly.

"Tifa, you've met Sephiroth. Do you think he's really an Ancient?"

She wondered that herself. If Sephiroth's mother was an Ancient, so was he. But how could someone who was supposedly chosen by the Planet, in harmony with the Planet . . . How could that person possibly do such horrible things like Sephiroth did? _The village . . . Papa . . ._

"My mother was Ifalna," Aerith said. "She was good. She was beautiful. She was kind and warm. She still protects me, even after she returned to the Planet. But Sephiroth . . . Jenova . . . if the blood of the Ancients could make someone so . . ."

Tifa faced her and said firmly, "You are _not _like Sephiroth, _or _Jenova. You're like you mother, good and kind and warm . . . and beautiful," she added and cursed her words for getting ahead of her for the third time that day. "You're _Aerith_."

Those green eyes held her and smiled. Aerith pushed herself off the bed and brushed her dress off, her youthful face brightening. She extended a hand. "Thank you, Tifa," she said warmly, pulling her up. That hand was small and gentle, but strong.

Cloud's story had left Tifa feeling uneasy, but right now she felt oddly . . . serene. Without another word they descended the stairs.

By the wall under the window, Red XIII lay blinking sleepily in the fading sunlight. He twitched his tail and stretched, sitting up on his haunches. "What a fascinating story."

* * *

AN: I'm sorry this took a while. I'm on summer vacation now, but summer school starts for me June 5th. Summer is always a slow time for me but I hope I can still update semi-regularly. 

Thank you so much for all your support! Reviews make me squeal like a fangirl, hehe. I'm glad you guys are enjoying it. Thank you for praise, for healthy criticism, for reviews, for reading. Whether it's a fanfic or original fiction, a story is nothing without readers.

I do intend to finish this no matter how long it takes (the day I finish I will proclaim it a miracle!)

My latest shoujo-ai obsession? "Kannazuki no Miko". I am a proud Chikane/Himeko supporter.

AN2: And my summer turned about to be not so great. Never mind. Version 2. Less and less typos with each chapter. I'm proud of my sad little self.


	8. Author's Note

I hope this update didn't get your hopes up too high. Because it's not a new chapter, just a note.

I'm sorry, guys. I know it's been forever, and frankly, not up to standard. A lot has been happening to me lately. This summer was . . . well it all went well until the end, and then it was a nightmare. It burned away pretty much all of my motivation. It's going to be a while, probably a long time before any updates happen. I may do a complete turn around and rewrite the whole thing. Or I may not. I feel kind of like I've really let those of you reading this down.

Right now I'm taking some time out to reassess a few personal things. Thank you guys for sticking with me since I started this fic.


	9. Chasing the BlackCaped Man

Title: The Fighter and the Faerie Queen

Chapter: 8 - Chasing the Black-Caped Man

Rating: T

Author: Death Mountain

Disclaimer: I don't FFVII.

* * *

Tifa bent over and gagged. She wanted to be sick, but she hadn't eaten since Kalm, so she could only dry-retch, which proved rather unpleasant. At the last minute she heaved a small amount of bile and digested breakfast. Aerith grabbed her and moved her hair over her back.

"Thanks," Tifa said. "Sorry about that, I'm not usually squeamish."

"Squeamish? No, I'd have gotten sick myself, if you hadn't first." Aerith wrung her hands, the color drained from her face.

"Well, you're welcome," Tifa muttered. "I can't say I'm glad to take your place."

Aerith shook her head distractedly. "Never mind, forget I said it. But . . . who could, I mean, our enemy is someone who could do . . . this?" She motioned to the gruesome, almost symbolic scene behind them.

Tifa glanced back. Baking in the sun, the serpentine form of a Midgar Zolom impaled on a tree awash with blood, a grotesquely arranged testament. "Sephiroth . . .? He's perfectly capable."

"Immeasurable strength," Red XIII said quietly. "The legacy of the Cetra. ShinRa's pride and ShinRa's shame."

The girls turned to him, surprised. He flicked his tail in lieu of a shrug. "I was an 'experiment' in ShinRa headquarters, remember? Houjou often talked to himself around me." His nose wrinkled in mild distaste at the memory.

"About Sephiroth?" prodded Tifa.

"The man was obsessed with Sephiroth."

"So you think he knows something about Sephiroth and the Cetra?" Aerith suggested hopefully.

"Houjou is mad," the lupine said simply. "He has no more sense than Sephiroth himself."

If Sephiroth could do this, what chance did they have to save the Planet? Tifa wondered. It was already starting to look hopeless.

* * *

"Ow!" Red stopped abruptly and Tifa, practically blind in the dark, tripped and stumbled over the undefined shape, hitting the cave floor on her knees. "What the—"

"The Turks," Red said quietly but clearly.

Tifa pushed herself back on her knees and squinted. "Oh. Aerith?"

"I'm all right." Green light flowed from the Materia in her staff, which she had been using like a lantern.

Emerging into a large hollow chamber, the first thing they saw was a suited figure lingering by the cave mouth, from which encouraging sunlight poured. Tifa recognized the man as the dark-skinned Turk, who had escorted them to the President at ShinRa Inc, the one who was surprisingly polite. Now he even waited for the group of three to enter and adjust to the new lighting before he spoke.

"Just a second!" he said, holding up a hand.

Tifa edged closer to Aerith. If ShinRa had caught up to them, they could still be after the Ancient, but she'd be damned if she let them take her again without a fight first. Red XIII also seemed to move protectively around them, the fur on his neck bristling.

He certainly was taking his time. "Do you know who I am?"

"From the Turks, right?" Tifa said cautiously.

"Well, if you know this won't take long. It's . . . difficult to explain what the Turks do . . ."

"Kidnapping, right?"

"To put it negatively, you could say that. He fell silent and frowned, glancing upward, then sighed. "But that's not all there is to it anymore . . ." For a moment it seemed he was having trouble speaking.

"Don't force yourself, Rude. I know you don't like speeches." A feminine voice echoed in the cavern from above them. They craned their necks to see the blonde woman in the familiar dark suit and shades. She waved to Rude.

"All right, Elena. Explain."

Aerith whispered, "She was there when Tseng and I got off the helicopter at the ShinRa building."

"Doesn't look much like a Turk," Tifa responded under her breath.

"I thought so, too."

Elena was already launching into her introduction. "I'm Elena, the newest member of the Turks. The Turks do the work that ShinRa can't dirty its corporate hands with. Reno should be here, but he's on probation for screwing up after you kicked his ass in Sector 7." She frowned. "Although I did get promoted to the Turks because of that . . . In any case, our job is to find out where Sephiroth is headed and stop _you _every step of the—"

"Elena. You talk too much." Tseng sidled up next to Rude from outside the cave mouth, looking tired and none too happy. Of course, the Turks were probably being worked to the bone in the short time since the incident at ShinRa HQ.

"Er, Mr. Tseng—" The younger Turk fumbled for words, probably trying to come up with an excuse or an abject apology.

Tseng glanced up at her sharply, making it clear that he was not in the mood for his subordinate's screw-ups. "I thought I gave you other orders." He nodded to Rude. "Now go, both of you. Don't forget to file a report."

Elena straightened up immediately, saluting him. "Yes sir. Rude and I will track Sephiroth south to Junon Harbor, where the—"

"Elena." Tseng sighed.

"Oh, er . . ."

"Just go, Elena." Having at least the courtesy to look embarrassed, she slunk around a corner, disappearing into a different tunnel in the caverns.

Rude nodded absently to his superior and looked back at Tifa and them. "Tell your friends, Reno says he'll see you after the injuries you gave him have healed. He wants to show his affection for you all with a new toy from the Weapons Development Division . . ."

The leader of the Turks waited for him to exit before he addressed the small group. He brushed strands of black hair out of his eyes and cleared his throat. "Hello again. You look well, Aerith."

"I could certainly be better," she said in a colder tone than Tifa had ever heard her use.

"Relax, we're not after you anymore. We've got our hands full chasing Sephiroth."

"And I'm supposed to be grateful to him for that?"

Tseng shrugged. "No, I suppose not. Just thought I'd let you know."

"You almost sound like you're worried about me." Was she teasing him? It was in the same frosty voice, but it still sounded almost friendly. Tifa glanced sideways at Aerith, wondering about her history with Tseng. _I hope she hasn't already forgotten he's the one who _kidnapped_ her._

As though he could somehow detect her thoughts of him, Tseng turned his attention to Tifa. "You're . . . Tifa, correct? I believe we met in Sector 7?"

She glared at him fiercely. "Tifa Lockheart, and it's _not _good to see you again." There was absolutely nothing she liked about this man. He worked for ShinRa and he seemed fixated on Aerith, and nothing good could come of him.

"I see. Well, just because our objective has changed doesn't mean we will stand for any interference. So stay out of ShinRa's way."

* * *

"We are being following," Red said casually.

To get to Junon, they had to cut through a long string of forest, which proved to be much more difficult to traverse than the open plains. It was not pleasant to put your foot down and find a tree root or ingrown vegetation to trip over every other minute. But the sentry at the nest of that huge bird promised it took less time than to go around the forest.

Tifa never even considered that someone—or something—might use the terrain to move practically in their shadow. "ShinRa?" she asked Red, keeping her voice low.

"No, they would be more careful. And I only smell one person."

For a moment Tifa had the horrible thought that it was Sephiroth, and her gut wrenched sharply. But Aerith said nonchalantly, "It's probably just a bandit, and even I can handle one bandit. Midgar is full of them." Thank the gods for level-headed women! Tifa chided herself for getting carried away with her imagination.

"How much farther do we have to go until Junon?" she asked casually.

"What, tired already?" Aerith teased.

"Not on your life." Tifa felt a grin splitting her face.

Aerith edged a little closer, smiling impishly. "Are you sure about that? Because if you need me to carry you . . ."

Tifa's hand darted out and tugged her braid, eliciting a squeak from the flower girl. "Who's the bodyguard here?" They wound up in a minor scuffle, playfully snatching at each other's hair and clothes and laughing. Red XIII stopped to watch them with an air of mild amusement.

"Oh, you—" Aerith laughed breathlessly as she pulled away patting her braid, which had lost its tidy pattern in their tussle. "Look what you've gone and done!" Her cheeks flushed with laughter, she raised her smiling eyes fondly.

The taller girl shook her head, stifling a giggle that she had always found to be embarrassingly girly. "You started it."

"You didn't say to stop." Still grinning, Aerith turned around in a short twirl and indicated the unraveled braid. "Help me?"

Why couldn't she resist that smile? Even if she didn't want to, and she did, Tifa got the impression that she wouldn't be able to say no. Almost without her consent her feet had already moved to her shorter friend, and her hands had raised themselves as though itching to touch that soft fair hair.

Upon closer inspection Aerith's hair proved to be fashioned into a twist rather than an actual braid. It felt oddly cool and smooth under Tifa's fingers as she lifted it, and it had an appropriately floral scent that lingered even after a not-so-clean trip. For a moment she lingered on the familiar hair tie and thought of the pink ribbon in her own dark hair. Thinking about it was oddly comforting.

As the plait was sliding through her hands her eye fell on the back of Aerith's bared neck, a strong slender stalk in a graceful slope, the white complexion of skin hidden from the sunlight.

Aerith started, and Tifa withdrew her hand, realizing she had unconsciously laid her fingers at the nape of Aerith's neck. "Um, Tifa?" the slim Ancient asked uncertainly.

"Sorry," Tifa mumbled, aware that the atmosphere had abruptly changed. _Tifa Lockheart, what are you thinking? You must be weird or something . . ._

Red observed this silently, with an unreadable expression in his yellow eyes.

A soft rustle from the bushes made both girls jumped, and they exchanged slightly guilty glances. Tifa coughed, feeling her face heat up again as she realized their tail had probably witnessed the little "show" they'd unintentionally put on. _If it's a bandit, they're probably thinking how lucky they were to happen across such a pair of ditzes!_

"We should keep moving," Aerith pointed out, all business, but as Red took the lead she flashed Tifa a smile that said she was not embarrassed in the least.

Funny thing—as soon as she saw that beautiful smile, neither was Tifa.

* * *

There you go, a new chapter. I'm a dork. I'm an idiot. I need sleep. I have a speech due tomorrow. Kill me. bangs head on the wall

I'm sorry, guys. I must be driving you crazy.

So, can you guess who the bandit is? Hehe? Nah, couldn't be . . . could it?

I finished this at 11:30 PM my time, so expect errors. I'll check it later. Enjoy.

Next chapter—the "mysterious" bandit's identity is revealed, and thus the party gets predictably sidetracked.


End file.
